Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

This week we have seen a government that has descended into a rabble without a cause. The Prime Minister is leaving Australia's future in the hands of a man who can't even see a spa as the end of a sentence. We saw that today in question time. We saw a government where cabinet ministers, including the Deputy Prime Minister, openly dissociate themselves from their own government. We saw a mob that behaves like an opposition in exile on the government benches, led by a man of no conviction who has become a caricature of himself, a prime minister who is all smirk and mirrors, no substance. He's a prime minister who's incapable of dealing with the present, let alone taking Australia into the future. After a decade of ridiculing climate change, they've been mugged by reality and dragged towards net zero by 2050.

It's a familiar pattern. First, you deny a problem exists. Second, you wait until it becomes a crisis. Third, you blame someone else for the inaction. Fourth, when you do act, it's always too little and too late. And, fifth, when you do that, you pretend you've been there all along and hope no-one notices. On bushfires we saw it: 'I don't hold a hose, mate.' Then, when he decided to be hands on, literally by forcing vulnerable people to shake his hand, he said, 'I was there the whole way along.' On the pandemic, JobKeeper was a dangerous idea that he opposed. Administering vaccines was not a race. We were first in the queue when we were right at the back. Of course, as a result, we have the Prime Minister's lockdowns, which we're coming out of now, and he's trying to take credit for us coming out of the lockdowns that are a direct creation of a failure on vaccine supply and on purpose-built quarantine.

Now we're looking at climate policy, the latest in this pattern: banal comments from those opposite and denial. They now say that technology is the answer. But what's their position on technology? First, they did create some funds, like the Emissions Reduction Fund. Where does the money for those funds come from? It comes from taxes, and yet they hope no-one notices that. They say it's about technology, and yet the Prime Minister said that electric vehicles would end the weekend. He said you wouldn't be able to drive your SUV, you wouldn't be able to tow your trailer—all this absolute nonsense when we see where the world is going on those issues. And, before they adopted that, you had the Treasurer writing op-eds supporting electric vehicles. Regarding batteries to store renewables, the Prime Minister said the biggest battery in Australia was as significant as the Big Banana or the Big Prawn—he just dismissed all of it. On renewable energy targets, he said, 'It's nuts,' and 'It's a muppet of a proposal.' Remember when he became Prime Minister, he said it was a government of muppets? He got that right then and he's right now. This is a government of muppets.

The fact is that, in spite of all of that, they take people as mugs. They're funding the proponents of a coal-fired power station in Queensland, which they promised at the last election would happen. They know it's not going to go ahead, but they're using taxpayer funds regardless. This is a government that is scared of the present but terrified of the future, and incapable of shaping the future to take advantage of the opportunities which are there. Labor wants to seize that opportunity. Labor wants to make sure that Australians can benefit from those opportunities. That's why in my first budget reply I advanced the Rewiring the Nation policy, a $20 billion plan to build transmission into the 21st century so that renewables could go into the grid. This mob, through Malcolm Turnbull, have a good proposal that has gone ahead—Snowy 2.0. But guess what: it doesn't fit into the grid. It's going to be open. They haven't plugged it in so that you can use the energy for the grid. It is just extraordinary. Rewiring the Nation will do just that.

We want cheaper electric vehicles. We're not going to tell people what to drive. We're going to drive down the price, though, to make it competitive and to make sure that we're not the dumping ground for what the rest of the world doesn't want. That's why you need to deal with these issues. We want community batteries so that it's not just about putting solar panels on roofs but also about making sure that that energy can be stored. It's an efficiency measure. We want to make sure that Austrians can take advantage of the jobs through new energy apprenticeships.

Action on climate change is just one element of our plan for a better life for working families, secure Australian jobs and a future made in Australia. We want an economy that works for people, building back better from the pandemic through our National Reconstruction Fund, supporting existing and new industries. We want a future made in Australia, manufacturing here. The Deputy Prime Minister said, 'I can't see jobs with renewables.' It's about driving down energy prices that then enable you to manufacture goods and give you a competitive advantage. It's not just about the jobs in terms of maintenance of the windfarms or building of the solar panels; it's about the whole economy and driving costs down.

We want a future made in Australia. We want a Buy Australian Plan. We want people who work in those industries to have secure work. They want temporary labour to be imported. We want to train Australians so that we lift wages, not drive them down. We want to deal with the casualisation of the workforce. We want to look after gig workers. We want same job, same pay. We want to close the gender pay gap. We want to make wage theft crime. We want to skill up Australians through Skills and Jobs Australia. We have a plan for working lives. We have a plan for cheaper child care. We have a plan to look after Australians, from their first years through to their later years, by looking after aged care. We want equality for women. This mob set up inquiries to find out what their own office knew about things that happened in Parliament House. They can't be taken seriously.

All those opposite have is fear. This week, we've seen a remarkable attempt by the Prime Minister to say that net zero by 2050 under them is good but net zero by 2050 under us is somehow not good. It's just extraordinary. Labor offers hope for a better future, and we have a plan to achieve it. We have a plan for an economy that works for people. We have a plan for people's working lives that gives them opportunity. We have a plan where no-one is left behind and no-one is held back. We have a plan where Medicare is at the centre of our health system. We have a plan to offer hope for a better future—to shape change. Change is inevitable. You can either fear it or shape it in the interests of people. We want to do that. We can be a renewable energy superpower for the world. We're located in the fastest-growing region of the world in human history. That presents us with an extraordinary opportunity to advance. Labor's plan is consistent with what Labor always does: we look after people and we bring people with us on that journey.

Labor has always seen the light on the hill as being critical. This Prime Minister is the gaslight on the hill, someone who's not prepared for the present, let alone capable of leading us into the future, and is leading a government whereby, when he leaves and goes to Glasgow, the Deputy Prime Minister will be in charge of the country. It is embarrassing. This is a government that is incapable of the leadership that Australia needs, and that's why this Prime Minister always follows and never leads. (Time expired)

See this speech in context