Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

When the Eagles are silent, the turkeys will soar. There is no doubt about that whatsoever. But, I would say to those opposite in their commentary about nuclear reactors in this country, they should be far more cautious. The AUKUS arrangement is an incredibly important national security agreement, and every single nuclear submarine that this country will build will go to Brisbane and Sydney and Melbourne and Adelaide and Perth and Darwin, and anything that reflects on those outcomes with our partners, the United States and Britain, is actually important. It is incredibly important. So, I would say to those opposite: be very cautious with your public commentary about what is absolutely the most important initiative for this country in terms of our national security in an arrangement that has not been offered to anyone else since the 1950s.

To come to the issues on the MPI, if we look at what's actually happening out in the real world, we have a significant coal fired power station at Callide and Biloela in the member for Flynn's electorate. It had a significant incident more than a year ago. It took out two of the generators, C3 and C4. That is, more than 10 per cent of Queensland's coal-fired capacity. That shorts the market. It's that easy. Yet, the Queensland Labor government, who owns more than 70 per cent of the generation in Queensland and all of the transmission and the only domestic retailer north of Gympie, has not fixed it. In fact, there are reports today that it won't be fixed for at least another year. Experts are saying outright that there will be massive increases in power prices and, in fact, in a story from Matt Killoran in today's Courier-Mail, 'sky-high power prices' are expected and Queensland is to face rolling 'blackouts' most likely next summer. Yet we see continued profiteering from the Queensland Labor government, because they own these assets. They take over a billion dollars worth of profit every single year from government owned corporations, and what else do they get? They get subsidies from the now federal Albanese government.

The Prime Minister made an arrangement—we hear from those opposite constantly about the fact that we did not vote for it—which creates subsidies in the billions for coal and gas companies, deals with the states, yet profiteering from the Queensland Labor government is driving up prices. Once again, back in the real world, the Australian Bureau of Statistics have indicated that in the March quarter alone in Brisbane power prices went up more than 30 per cent in just one quarter. Now we see the default market offer as roughly an increase of another 25 per cent across the board for residential and as much as almost 30 for small business yet we see the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and every other minister come to the dispatch box to try to tell the Australian people that a 25 per cent increase is a decrease, that in fact it could have been much, much worse. It could have been so much worse. They cannot pay their bills now.

There is no $275 reduction; there are only increases. There is only pain for people that can't pay, and, if you are in Queensland, the profits are going to the Queensland Labor government. The quickest way to get a reduction in power prices in Queensland is for the state Labor government to stop making so much money. That is the absolute outcome of these changes. They are profiteering. The market is shorted because they have not fixed Callide power station. The information I get is the member for Flynn has written to the state minister twice for a briefing about what is an incredibly important piece of infrastructure. In fact, these power stations, would you believe, provide electricity to places like coalmines—things that actually contribute to the Australian economy. Our biggest export commodity this financial year that has provided a significant input to the bottom line for this federal Labor government and its budget and, for one of the first times ever, a budget in the black for Queensland because they had a massive increase in royalties of almost 40 per cent across the board on call. What have they done with it? They are not reinvesting it in regional Queensland. They are not reinvesting in Queensland hospitals and services. They are not providing relief. They are not providing help for people who cannot pay—

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