Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Boothby for her question. The member for Boothby will remember that, last week, it was announced that the Turnbull government had presided over 371,000 new jobs in the last 12 months. A lot of people might have thought that that was hard to improve upon. That was such a stunning number. How do you get more jobs out of the economy? Well, there is a way. You can solve the energy issue, which is exactly what this government is trying to do—which I note that the opposition have given up on today. They have completely given up on energy. The issue that our constituents raise with us everywhere we go is affordable power and reliable power. Labor have not asked one question about it today. Instead, they've given up on energy, but this side of the House hasn't.

We know that, if we can bring about affordable and reliable energy, it will create even more jobs than the 371,000 that we announced last week. It's good for investment. It's good for jobs. It's good for growth.

As recently as today, it was revealed that AEMO has intervened in the South Australian energy market five times in the last six weeks to keep the lights on in South Australia—five times in the last six weeks, and it's only spring. Imagine how fearful older people in their homes, businesses and hardworking Australian families are—imagine how concerned they are—about the approaching summer.

So what we're calling on the South Australian government to do is get on board with this government's Australian National Energy Guarantee. The National Energy Guarantee has the capability to solve the energy crisis in this country by increasing supply and capacity in the market, driving down prices and, therefore, as a consequence, ensuring more reliable supply and more affordable prices for businesses and households. We don't want the Premier, Jay Weatherill, or Tom Koutsantonis standing on the platform forlornly as the train pulls out.

The Australian public are not interested in people playing politics on energy prices in Australia. They're not interested in the Labor Party wanting to play the old politics of negativity and division. What they want is to see, at COAG in November, the state and territory governments getting on board with this government's attempt at solving one of the most significant issues facing households and businesses every day. We don't want the snake-oil salesman, the Leader of the Opposition, pretending to be bipartisan, offering support, when in fact all he wants is a political fight. On this occasion, the Labor Party needs to support the households and businesses of Australia. (Time expired)

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