Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Hansard source

It was atrocious. Minister Bowen wanted to talk about fact. The Labor government promised to reduce energy bills by $275—fact. They promised $275 97 times—fact. Within a year, Labor has delivered the highest energy prices on record—fact. Electricity prices will rise by a further 25 per cent for many Australians from 1 July—fact. The increase in the default market offer and the Victorian default offer, which will take effect from 1 July 2023 will ensure over 1½ million households across Australia will be worse off by up to $352 a year in Victoria—fact. Over 400,000 small businesses will see their electricity bills increase to $1,310 a year or more, depending on the business—fact. The minister, the Prime Minister and those opposite will spin, twist and twirl around everyday Australians and their power bills, saying: 'No, that bill isn't higher. Energy is cheaper. The green dream means cheaper electricity. More is less. Up is down. Bad is good.' The VNI West transmission proposal is an example from my own electorate. I am so proud of the farmers in Mallee who came across to Canberra this week, a 1,500km journey, to make the point. Disgracefully, Minister Bowen wouldn't even look them in the eye; he pretended they weren't in the chamber at all. Just like in Labor's Rewiring the Nation plan, Labor ignores that regional Australia exists. Labor considers those who live in regional Australia merely ants to be squashed under foot in order to railroad pylons and transmission lines through their farms, their remnant vegetation, the land significant to Indigenous people. Remember the climate change debate—trust the science, listen to the experts? Remember that? The experts have spoken in the form of professors Bruce Mountain and Simon Bartlett, who summed up the VNI West in two words—a monumental mistake. But federal and state Labor in Victoria will plough on, ignore the experts and the value of lives in regional communities to achieve political aspirations.

What will that monumental mistake actually mean? It will mean higher power prices and higher food prices at the checkout. When you build on a monumental mistake, when you build something expensive and inefficient, guess who pays for it? Australian families and Australian small businesses. Instead of focusing on the needs of Australian families and businesses doing it tough, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy have introduced another carbon tax by changes to the safeguard mechanism, which will make the cost-of-living crisis even worse.

All the while, Australia is looking down the barrel of an energy supply crunch over coming years which could see rolling brownouts and blackouts, which will only see energy prices continue to climb—that old maths, supply and demand. It could have been avoided if the ideological farce of a ban on nuclear energy had not been put in place decades ago. We would be like almost every other OECD and developed economy in the world with our abundant uranium supply. We could have kept power supply open with nuclear. Our carbon emissions profile would have been much lower. But, no, Labor's green dream sees us running head long into a supply crunch and, as I mentioned at the beginning, higher power prices. That's why the motion being considered in the Senate for an inquiry into the transmission grid and our real energy capacity is actually an urgent priority—it failed again today. Those opposite like to talk about heads in the sand. When you pursue blind ideology without social licence, without regard to the consequences, without the facts, your head is buried somewhere in a pretty dark place.

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