Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Minister for Energy) Share this | Hansard source

is our commitment to the reliability obligation, which the Labor states need to step up to in the coming weeks. That's an obligation that requires every energy retailer to ensure that, years ahead of time, it has the supply it needs to meet the demand of all Australian families and businesses. That reliability obligation has been worked up over a long period of time. We hope the opposition is going to support this, because this is absolutely crucial to making sure we have the supply in the market to meet the needs of all Australians.

Meanwhile, we know that we will achieve more emissions reductions in the next three years than at any time in Australian history in our National Electricity Market. We're going to see the generation of wind and solar in the NEM go from 17½ terawatt hours to 44½ terawatt hours in the next 2½ years—that's a 250 per cent increase. The result of that is we will reach the Paris emissions target, the 26 per cent reduction target, in an absolute canter. We will get there in the early 2020s. That gives us breathing space. That gives us the ability to focus on getting prices down and making sure we have the supply we need for all Australians.

The shadow minister likes to talk about the NEG, which he described as a Frankenstein policy. But the real difference between our policy and those opposite is that they have a reckless target of 45 per cent emissions reductions. The question is: how are they going to achieve that? As I said in question time, the answer is becoming clearer by the day. On 27 November we heard an interview by Laura Jayes on Sky with the member for Isaacs. She asked the member for Isaacs, 'Are you ruling a carbon tax out, though?' The member for Isaacs said, 'I'm not ruling it in or out.'

But it gets better. A journalist was interviewing the member for Shortland over there on regional Victorian radio. I was driving along the road and, all of a sudden, up he came on the radio. The journalist said, 'If elected, would Labor go so far as restoring a price on carbon?' His answer went on to say, 'You can argue there is an implied carbon price in our policy'—a tricky carbon price; a sneaky carbon price.

Then, on 22 November, the member for Port Adelaide appeared on ABC's 7.30and at least he was honest. Leigh Sales asked him, 'Will that include a decision about whether you will or will not be pricing carbon?' and he went on to say, 'It will cover all the other sectors of the economy, apart from electricity.' That's a pretty long list.

Those opposite need to come clean with Australian farmers about what this is going to mean for the control they have over their land. What are you going to do to native vegetation laws? What are you going to do to stocking rates? What will it mean for the control that Australian farmers have over their ability to run their businesses and to deliver their products—the best agricultural products in the world—to their customers all over the world? Markets have grown at an unprecedented rate under this government, and you want to control how that land is used.

On the transport sector, you snuck in, at the last election—a very sneaky one, this one—a vehicle emissions standard for light vehicles of 105 grams per kilometre. Now, let's talk to the tradies out there. What do the tradies use now? A Toyota Hilux at over 200 grams per kilometre. A Ford Ranger at 244 grams per kilometre. What are they going to drive? Mini Minors? Are they going to put a shovel and their toolkit in the back of the Mini Minor? Guys, this is not going to work. Let's be clear: this is not going to work, and yet that is your policy right now. So fess up. Come clean to the Australian people about what your policies are.

Then we get to manufacturing. The member for Flynn over there knows only too well, as the member who represents the great city, the centre of Gladstone, an aluminium town—smelting and refining. What is the future of the aluminium industry? Tomago, Gladstone, Portland and Bell Bay—what's the future of those places? Well, let me tell you—I know this industry well—it will not survive under the opposition's policies, because they want to get rid of affordable, reliable power in this country.

We know that you as a party believe in higher prices. We see it in Queensland, where you've taken $2 billion from Australian families and businesses by hiking prices and refusing to drive competition. We've called on the Queensland government to split two companies into three to create real competition. No go; no interest, because they rely on higher electricity prices for their policies. And we've heard it from this wonderful organisation, LEAN, the Labor Environment Action Network, which says:

High prices are not a market failure. They are proof of the market working well.

Well, go and tell that to the workers at Tomago. Go and tell that to the workers at Bell Bay. We say it to the workers at Boyne in Gladstone, because they know they need affordable, reliable power, as all Australians do. (Time expired)

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