Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

What an embarrassing performance by the member for Mallee. I congratulate him on his promotion, but, let's just pause for a second—this is a debate about climate change and energy policy and the second speaker for the government is on the record as saying, 'I am a self-described sceptic of policy responses to climate change.' He's a sceptic of policy responses and he questions the science regarding the impact of humans. The second speaker for the government on a debate about energy and climate change questions the science, doesn't think we can do anything on policy and has just called for, in his speech, the construction of a new coal-fired power station. This is the quality of the debate from those in government. What a disgrace. I can tell him, 'If you want to build a new coal-fired power station, that is a recipe for higher pollution and higher power prices.' It's a recipe for both. This is the state of the debate from the government.

We only have to see the minister's contribution. The member for Dickson's numbers man—a man who couldn't even count to 43 in the party room—is now in charge of getting power prices down. God help us all. If you can't count to 43, how can you get power prices down? I say you can't. This is the shame of this debate: the government has had five energy policies in two years. In fact, they've had four in the months of August and September. They've had four in a month and a half. What a disgrace. At least the new minister is clear. He has completely surrendered on emissions policy. The tragedy of this is that it means not only higher pollution but higher power prices.

What is going on now is, if you don't invest in renewable energy and if you don't attempt to provide any certainty to the market, you see higher power prices. Don't just ask for my opinion. Don't just take it from me. The Australian Energy Market Commission said:

The result of this uncertainty has been delays in investment and consequent increasing electricity prices …

The Australian Energy Council said:

A lack of robust or bipartisan energy policy means there is a lack of investment confidence, which means there is more risk to be managed, and this in turn leads to higher prices …

So we've got the government's own regulator and the peak body for all the power companies in the country—not just renewables—saying their actions and their decision to surrender any attempt to provide certainty on energy policy means higher power prices.

The market has responded most emphatically. In the last month and a half, wholesale electricity spot prices in Victoria have risen by 81 per cent. Let me repeat that: in the last six weeks, since this government has changed its policy four times, spot prices have risen by 81 per cent. That is flowing through to retail power prices very shortly, because spot prices lead to higher power prices for consumers. So we're already seeing the impact of this uncertainty. It's there, plain to see, if you read the government's own modelling. The government's own modelling says that, if you have no policy and don't go through with the NEG, you will see a $300 increase in power prices. That is what is going on right now. That is what the now Prime Minister said as Treasurer only four or five weeks ago.

What we have now is a government riven by divisions. We have a government that has an energy minister who is a climate change sceptic, who hates renewable energy and who doesn't want to provide certainty to the industry, and we have a second speaker who denies the science of climate change. It's no wonder they've given up. The great tragedy of this is it's not them who suffer or pay the price; it's the households in this country. Every single household in this country will pay higher power prices and will face higher emissions because this government has given up. They've given up because they are so hopelessly divided. The Australian population, right now, is condemning them, but history will condemn them as a government that has given up governing and is just interested in fighting themselves.

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