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

Earlier today the Leader of the Opposition stood in front of some solar panels. For a little while he was talking sense, and then a beam of sunlight struck the panel and he was transformed, not into a werewolf but into an economic fantasist. He said, 'Renewable energy is getting cheaper and will continue to do so.' He did. He said, 'It's correct to say we've been moving down the renewable energy path and we're seeing the benefits.' And then he said, 'It needs to be subsidised.' This is the bit that we're struggling to understand. His comrade in arms, defying economics, was the member for Sydney. She's even more emphatic. She said to Kieran Gilbert that renewables are becoming cheaper all the time and are already cheaper than coal. Kieran Gilbert was not asking an unreasonable question when he said, 'So why subsidise it?' Fairly obvious! She said, 'It's not about subsidies; it's about certainty.' This is the Labor Party: 'It's about certainty.' I'll tell you what the certainty is: $66 billion of costs loaded onto Australian families and Australian businesses in order to subsidise technologies that are already the cheapest alternative, according to the Labor Party.

If Labor were remotely fair dinkum or consistent about this, they would welcome the level playing field our Energy Guarantee offers—the level playing field! There are two constraints in the Energy Guarantee plan recommended by the Energy Security Board. One is to keep the lights on. Most people regard that as a very high priority—not the Labor Party, obviously. We do. The other one is to ensure that you meet your Paris commitments. That's very important, too. And then you've got to do so in the least-cost manner. That's the triple bottom line. That's what the Energy Security Board has recommended—a plan to deliver. It's about time Labor started becoming consistent and principled and rational and supported the advice of the experts.

Mr Thistlethwaite interjecting—

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