Justine Keay (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to quickly reflect on a comment the member for Grayndler made in his contribution: with those opposite, it seems like a lot of energy and ideas go into their policy formation, but nothing comes out. It seems like those opposite are suffering from policy constipation. I think they need to do something about it, because the state of Tasmania will suffer. I take the incompetence of the government sitting opposite very, very personally, because they are putting at risk billions of investment dollars into Tasmania and hundreds if not thousands of jobs.

The NEG is dead and, under this government, Tasmania's Battery of the Nation is dead. The Tasmanian state Liberal government and Tasmania's federal Liberal senators' support for Tasmanians, their jobs and the investment potential in future renewable energy projects is dead. We have a state energy minister and a Liberal Premier who have failed to advocate for Tasmanians. They have failed to make a case for a national energy policy which supports Tasmania's place as the renewable energy capital of Australia. They have failed to take their own party to task for allowing the politics of the Liberal Party to ruin this opportunity for our state.

And now, thanks to the Liberals' civil war, we find ourselves with a new energy minister, who has lifted the bar for the most anti-renewable, climate-change denying minister Australia has ever seen. He is the poster boy for the troglodytes and the hard Right ideology of energy policy of those opposite, whose insistence that energy policy should ignore the need to transition to clean energy and that governments have no role in supporting investor certainty throws mud in the face of common sense and basic economics. His ideological opposition to renewable energy is a clear deterrent to anyone wishing to invest in future Tasmanian energy projects, a deterrent to the more than $2 billion planned investment into renewable energy projects on the north-west coast of my electorate alone. These renewable energy projects would create hundreds of jobs and put downward pressures on power prices for Tasmanian businesses and household consumers.

What happens when a weak Prime Minister surrenders to their backbenchers' anti-renewable, climate-change denying ideology? I'm just asking for half-a-million Tasmanian friends. The simple fact is the anti-renewable climate-dismissing Liberal government are incapable of delivering lower power prices or lowering pollution, because they are opposed to the renewable investment that will deliver both. Make no mistake: Australians will now pay even more on their power bills because of this reckless Liberal Party and their chaotic policy and chaotic internal division.

Now they admit that, by dumping this policy, families will pay more for power—at least $300 more. Shame! So, when Australian people open their power bills and see they're continuing to skyrocket, they'll know exactly who to blame: a weak Prime Minister who leads a divided and illegitimate government. Labor was willing to work with the former Prime Minister on the National Energy Guarantee but, without even talking to Labor, the Liberals decided to abandoned the policy they recently said was essential to solving the energy crisis. And now the government has nothing: no policy, no ideas, no leadership and no hope.

Labor announced that the north-west of Tasmania, which is in my electorate, will be Labor's first identified renewable energy zone, a zone that will attract investment to drive Labor's commitment to ensure 50 per cent of electricity from across the country is sourced from renewables by 2030. Labor has a plan to help households and businesses get a better deal on their power prices. Labor have a plan to transition Australia's energy system with our 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030. At its core, it will drive investment in renewable energy, create almost 30,000 new renewable energy jobs, put downward pressure on power prices and deliver real action to tackle climate change.

Earlier today I had the privilege of speaking to young Indigenous people from across the country. I asked them what the most pressing issue is for them—these are 16- and 17-year-old Australians; the next voters coming through in our democracy—and their No. 1 issue is climate change. Clearly, those opposite will not listen.

The average small business customer under Labor will save up to $1,500 per year. But, most importantly, all consumers will benefit from increased transparency, simpler bills and downward pressure on prices. The choice is clear: Labor is for renewables and lower prices; the Liberals are for more chaos and higher prices.

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