Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I think I'll leave looking down the barrel to 'the lightweight on the hill' over there! I thank the member for his question. I do note the comments of Phil Lowe, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, someone who has a bit of a role in the economy and someone who has a look at energy policy and the impact. This is what he had to say to the Standing Committee on Economics on 16 September:

… the fact that Australia committed to net zero by 2050 was incredibly important. …The fact that we had not signed up had people saying: 'Are you really serious about this? We want this. Do we want to invest in Australia?' … the fact that we committed to it was important. Australia has great potential here with clean energy. … When we were on a different path, people were saying, 'Are they really serious?' It was damaging us.

And indeed it was, because four gigawatts left the system, and only one gigawatt came in. If you have an impact on that, it has an impact on price. But we are already acting on our policy, which has been passed through both houses of parliament, and, as a result, we're already seeing the investment. You see, price is a product of investment.

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