Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

That's why this reform has been backed by the Business Council, the Australian Industry Group and ACCI, who have all released statements calling for this package to pass the parliament. So industry certainty is key.

But I'll tell you what is not industry certainty: that's flipping positions between last year and this year. Yesterday the shadow Treasurer was asking the Prime Minister about something he'd said in 2006. Well, in 2021, the member for Hume was backing safeguard crediting—not that long ago. In 2021, the member for Hume said:

The new Safeguard Crediting Mechanism would provide an incentive to businesses to reduce their energy costs and emissions by undertaking transformative projects.

That's exactly what we are proposing in the Safeguard Mechanism (Crediting) Amendment Bill.

Industry certainty is also important when it comes to downward pressure on prices. That's why we intervened in December to act on energy prices. This is important for households and small business, but it's also important for big business and industries, because big industrial producers are also big energy users. That's why the Aluminium Council backed our intervention, saying, 'The council welcomes the actions of the government to meaningfully address gas prices in the short term and medium as a stepping stone to a long-term solution.' So the opposition cry crocodile tears about big industry, but they weren't there for big industry last December, when the government was acting.

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