Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

That must have been it. That's a lot of trips to Canberra from Sydney, isn't it—$14 million! But that didn't trouble him. He was determined to put up that story. Then there were his efforts in the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. The hint with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation is in its name—it's about clean energy.

Honourable members interjecting—

I know, it's shocking! Who would have thunk it? That was something that the member for Hume wanted to take out. He wanted the Clean Energy Finance Corporation not to invest in clean energy. The other thing I thought was amazing about the failed attempts of the member for Hume regarding the Clean Energy Finance Corporation was that the return on investment required for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation was all about good investments. It's one of the most successful government agencies to invest in programs to get a good return on investment. Except what the member for Hume wanted to do was take out the financially responsible aspects of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. He wanted to turn the Clean Energy Finance Corporation into a government agency that didn't invest in clean energy and didn't have any financial responsibility. It was just going to be 'the agency', because it had no other link.

An honourable member: I feel a colour-coded spreadsheet coming on!

A colour-coded spreadsheet, yes! There were a few seats over that they should have done more colour-coded spreadsheets for. Then there was the Collinsville coal-fired power station. The former member for Dawson was pretty keen on that, but—

Honourable members interjecting—

Yes, with Senator Canavan and a few others from his band of merry men. Canavan was getting some chalk and updating his Twitter bio—that's what Senator Canavan was up to! Anyway, it brings me to the member for Fairfax, who is our new friend leading those opposite and who led the MPI. I have a soft spot for the member for Fairfax—he's a good-natured character.

We on this side of the House recognise the fact that there are energy price struggles that Australian people are facing. We absolutely recognise that. We recognise the fact that for too long this country has been crippled by having no energy policy. We need to get energy prices down and we need to ensure that gas prices are as low as possible. The work going on behind the scenes by the ministers and the Prime Minister is extremely important. But you would think that, while energy prices are so high, you wouldn't go for the highest and most expensive form of energy as the main policy to rectify those high-energy prices. Surely! I know that they aren't burdened by logic and they're not burdened by sense, but surely that makes no sense. The member for Fairfax has in his electorate the Coolum Beach Surf Club—unfortunately, today we're going to have to announce that if the member for Fairfax has his way the Coolum Beach Surf Club is going to be transformed into the 'Coolum Beach Nuclear Reactor'. That's what it's going to be. They won't be doing the surf club in Coolum; they're just going to be 'Coolum down' the nuclear reactor! That's all they're going to be able to do in Coolum.

The member for Maranoa is the leader of this new push for nuclear energy. One of the great things in the member for Maranoa's electorate is the Stockmans Hall of Fame—it's a great part of regional Australia. But it's going to have to be shut down, unfortunately for the member for Maranoa because you're going to have the 'Stockmans Nuclear Power Plant' instead. It's not going to be the hall of fame; it's going to be the 'hall of uranium' in the in the member or Maranoa's electorate! There are so many others who are going to have to build nuclear reactors in their electorates—

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