Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Our government believes in jobs. We believe in jobs in North Queensland, we believe in jobs in northern Tasmania, we believe in jobs in Western Australia. Right across the country, we believe in jobs and we believe in ensuring that manufacturing continues to be able to get access to the reliable power it needs to ensure that it can support jobs and livelihoods into the future. So, before the last election, our government committed to undertake to look at what the reliable power generation options were to support heavy industry in North Queensland. That review then led to the series of options that were put before the government, for which the government has agreed to support undertaking feasibility studies to assess those options and how they can support jobs in North Queensland.

We are technology agnostic when it comes to ensuring we have reliable power generation in this country. We want to ensure that electricity prices come down, not go up. We want to ensure the lights stay on, not go off. We want to ensure that industries, whether they be in North Queensland or anywhere else, that provide the livelihoods for Australians continue to be maintained. We will assess the options that support those jobs. The simple question I have for those opposite—

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