Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The opposition tactics committee must be a fascinating place!

The government are putting downward pressure on gas and electricity prices, and we are ensuring that the system becomes more reliable not just today, but in the months and years ahead. We're planning for Australia's future energy needs, not like the Labor Party and their leader, the member for Maribyrnong, who, when the consequences of the Liddell Power Station closing down in 2022 was set out by AEMO, saying, 'This is going to create a big gap in dispatchable or baseload power'—

A government member: What did he say?

What did he say? He said, 'I think that's an issue down the track'. I guess that was what the member for Port Adelaide thought when they ignored the expert's advice that allowing unrestricted gas exports would create a shortage of supply on the year's growth, that it was another 'issue down the track'.

The member for Port Adelaide, the great confessor himself, finally confessed under the steely interrogation of David Speers. He'd managed to avoid confessing when he was interrogated by Barrie Cassidy, but Speers finally got him. He speared him, in fact. The member for Port Adelaide said, 'Everyone knew there was going to be an impact on prices.' Now this is more a case of idiocy than ideology. Labor's energy policy has been driven by ideology and idiocy; together, it is an absolutely fatal combination as far as Australians' power bills are concerned. No forethought and no care whatsoever. So when they demand that we should take action—and, of course, as I'll describe, we already are—they're really saying, 'Please fix up the mess we created.' That's what they're saying.

Since we made our announcement that we would take steps to restrict exports to protect the domestic market, wholesale spot prices in July were as low as $6 a gigajoule. They currently sit around $6 to $10 a gigajoule, down from $12 to $14 earlier in the year, so we are already seeing a result. LNG operator Santos announced that 30 petajoules of gas will be diverted from exports in 2018 and 2019. That's enough gas for 330,000 homes for two years. So you're already seeing positive results—

Mr Champion interjecting—

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