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

I thought I'd take this opportunity just to make a couple of comments on this amendment and the speech we just heard from the member for Melbourne. This bill is focused on competition policy, on competition reform. The Greens can't see the world through any other lens but emissions. Emissions are important. We're focused on emissions and we have clear policies which will overachieve on our 2020 targets, and we've laid out to the last tonne how we'll will reach our 2030 targets. But to the Greens there is no issue other than emissions, and anticompetitive conduct is something they're completely happy to live with, they seem completely unconcerned about it, because they have one lens through which they look at the world.

We know that in this place just last week they moved a motion on climate emergency, and I've been puzzled as to what the definition of that is. Well, the member for Melbourne has been helping us out with that. The definition has been given by the Greens in the Senate. It is clear: no oil, no gas, no coal—and, frankly, in that world, no hope. There is no hope, because that is what the Greens want to see, and they see the world through that lens only. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Greens are going to get to the parliament in future sittings, and I'm not sure how they're going to get home, because oil is pretty important for transport around this country. But they are focused simply on emissions.

One of the things they want is to see all of our coal-fired power stations bulldozed straightaway. They want to see them gone. We have seen what mismanaging this does in Victoria, where the Victorian government encouraged the closure of the Hazelwood power station. We saw a large slab of electricity supply going out of the market. We were assured by people like the Greens that this wouldn't have an impact on prices. Well, we saw exactly what it did. It more than doubled the wholesale price of electricity on the day it was announced. Now, that doesn't worry the Greens, because they want to see a higher price for electricity so that people don't use it. They don't like electricity. They don't like economic development. They don't like a strong economy, because a strong economy to them is at odds with what they want to achieve.

Our approach to coal-fired power stations is characterised by the Liddell task force, where we've been very, very clear. If we have a coal-fired generator which is planned for closure, we put notice periods in place, as a result of the recommendations of the Finkel review, and we want to see either like-for-like replacement or life extension. It is simple. We can't afford to see large parts of the electricity supply disappearing from the marketplace because guess who will pay. It will be the hardworking families and small businesses of Australia and the people employed by energy-intensive industry who will pay the price for mad green policies that are all about the premature closure of coal-fired power stations—and gas as well. They hate gas as much as they hate coal. This bill is squarely focused on anticompetitive conduct, on manipulation and distortion of the market, on shutting out new competitors coming into the market, on failing to pass on substantial and sustained savings to customers. These are things that really matter to middle Australia. That's the focus of the legislation. We're pleased that Labor is joining us. We're happy to support their amendments of course, because they were already embodied in the original bill. For the avoidance of doubt, we're happy to support Labor's amendments but we're not going to support the amendments put up by the Greens.

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