Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Government has no plan to ensure replacement energy generation is built on time to replace the 20 gigawatt of baseload energy slated to withdraw from the National Electricity Market (NEM) by 2035, causing energy to become more expensive and less reliable;

(b) despite promising Australians it would reduce household electricity costs by $275 the Government has created energy chaos and has delivered consecutive price hikes including further increases of up to 33 per cent due from 1 July 2023;

(c) the closure of Liddell Power Station marks the start of a turbulent new era in Australia's energy market with 20 gigawatts of base load energy capacity (80 per cent of total baseload energy) to withdraw from the NEM by 2035;

(d) the Snowy 2.0 'mega battery' was commissioned by the former Government to support an orderly transition of the NEM, which is now under threat due to the current Government;

(e) the further delays to Snowy 2.0 will place further pressure on Australia's electricity market in coming years with 7.5 gigawats of baseload energy exiting the grid, before the 2 gigawatt Snowy 2.0 project is fully operational, from power stations including Liddell, Eraring, Yalloum and Vale Point B;

(f) the former Government actioned a comprehensive plan to enable a smooth powering down of the 2 gigawatt Liddell Power Station by extending its life, overseeing record investment in renewables and commissioning the 660 megawatt Kurri Kurri gas plant;

(g) since the Government came to office, there have been reports of massive blow-outs in both cost and the delivery timeframe for both the Snowy 2.0 and Kurri Kurri projects;

(h) the Government's uncommercial green hydrogen plan for Kurri Kurri has resulted in the project being delayed by at least a full year and has more than doubled the project's total cost; and

(i) the former Government worked with energy providers like AGL to extend the life of critical power stations to allow time for replacements to be built; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) immediately reinstate a technology agnostic capacity mechanism;

(b) urgently work with Origin Energy to extend the life of the Eraring power station until replacement dispatchable capacity comes online;

(c) scrap its uncommercial green hydrogen plan for Kurri Kurri so it can start as a gas plant as soon as possible; and

(d) ensure Snowy 2.0 is operational as soon as possible.

We, in this parliament, all know that energy bills continue to rise. Many Australians believe that the soaring prices they see in their energy bill tells the whole story when it comes to problems with Australia's energy system under the Albanese Labor government. I stand today to put forward this motion to put to the House that in fact the soaring prices don't tell the entire story when it comes to Australia's energy system. Indeed, there's another problem, a problem that is looming and that, until it hits, many Australians won't even know about it. That is the problem of reliability.

Prices—yes, we know. The government had promised that $275 reduction in household power bills, and we know very well that promise has been broken. No-one seriously believes that Labor can deliver on that promise. We know, through the news only a few weeks ago, that the default market offer is only going to increase even further. Already Australians have been paying hundreds of dollars more than what Labor had promised since they came to office, and, come 1 July, they will pay hundreds more. This is hurting families. We absolutely know that. That is why we will continue to hold the government to account. But, that bill, which says how much your prices have gone up, doesn't tell the full story, because the full story is told by the likes of the market operator, the ACCC and key industry leaders that have expressed a concern about us having a shortfall of energy into the future. In other words, a lot of us have heard of the discussions that, especially in the last winter, we had senior citizens having to make a choice between heating and eating.

If, indeed, there is a full breakdown in reliability—not just price—senior citizens won't even have that choice. If, indeed, a shortfall comes to fruition and there are blackouts in our system, senior citizens, who maybe weigh up the choice of heating and eating, will not be able to turn on the stove to eat, to heat their spag bol or their soup, and they certainly won't be able to turn on their heater at home. Absolute blackouts are a genuine, present risk to our system at the moment.

Underlying this is Labor's suite of policies that will see an accelerated, premature closure of base-load power stations. Right now here in Canberra, part of the New South Wales NEM, you're probably looking at over 60 per cent of your electricity being supplied by coal-fired power stations. These are part of the base-load power system that we have in Australia at the moment. Eighty per cent—that's eight, zero; 80 per cent—of our base-load power will leave the grid by 2035—gone. Again, Australia is an island. We do not have cords connected elsewhere to import such electricity. If those base-load power stations are gone—entirely demolished and in many cases blown up—without a replacement there in time, we will have blackouts.

Those typically coal-fired base-load power stations are one thing. We already know, too, that this government is trying to kill off gas. The more you suffocate the supply of gas, the harder it gets. Then it comes to renewables. On the back of the coalition government, which delivered record investments in renewables, the first quarter of this year has seen no investment closures. No deals have been closed in the first quarter for any renewable generation project across the country. Renewable investment has nosedived under this government, regardless of their rhetoric. We are looking at a real problem if we have our base-load power stations, our gas and our renewables nosediving in this country, which is why they need to reinstate the capacity mechanism. They need to work with Origin on keeping Eraring up and running. And they need to make sure that they go to full gas— (Time expired)

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