Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hughes for bringing this private member's business on energy supply to the chamber and I thank the member for Mallee for her contribution. If only the Liberals and Nationals had been in government for the past 10 years—Australia would be awash in energy! We would have nuclear power, nuclear reactors in every suburb and town in Australia. But where were they for the past 10 years? Oh: they were in government! Where were all these wonderful ideas from those opposite then?

It's a bold move on the part of the member for Hughes, given the energy policy chaos inflicted upon the nation under the stewardship of her party when in government, to bring on this motion. The member came to this place in 2022, at the same time that her party was removed from government, so she may be unaware of the shocking truth of just how badly her side ran energy policy. For example, it was under the Liberal government that four gigawatts of dispatchable capacity left the grid and only one gigawatt entered it. That's a net loss of three gigawatts of energy in the grid over the term of the former Liberal government.

For all their huffing and puffing and photo opportunities, with lumps of coal, cosplay, high viz and helmets, the Liberal government failed to maintain Australia's energy supply. It was the former Liberal government that led toxic crusades against renewable energy, with the former Liberal Treasurer even moaning about the view being spoiled by the turbines on the drive to Canberra—the poor thing! But it didn't stop there. The former government vetoed a $280 million loan for a 157-megawatt windfarm in northern Queensland because it was 'inconsistent with the objectives and policies of the Commonwealth government'—and too right it was; it was absolutely inconsistent with the qualities of that government. It says it all.

The member for Hughes wants to talk about increasing power costs, so let's talk about them. Let's talk about how the Liberals kept rising energy costs secret when they were in government. When he was asked directly whether he knew about imminent wholesale energy price rises, the then energy minister and now shadow Treasurer, the member for Hume, said, 'No, I didn't.' But the member for Hume amended the industry code for electricity retailers three days before the May 2022 election was called, to delay the release of increases in the default market offer for New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia until after the election. The Liberals knew energy prices were rising, they watched it happen and they hid it from Australians.

In May 2019 the Liberals promised to deliver average wholesale prices of $70 a megawatt hour by the end of 2021. Instead, the average wholesale price at the time of the election, in May 2022, was $286.18. The Liberals promised that energy prices would decrease by 25 per cent. Instead, they rose by 240 per cent. More than three years ago the Liberals promised a billion dollars to support 38,000 megawatts of new generation. Not one dollar, not one kilowatt, was delivered. You could not even turn on a light bulb with what the Liberals contributed to the energy grid.

The Albanese government is fixing the mess the Liberals left behind. We are delivering policy certainty and investment credibility. We took a plan to the election, and we are delivering that plan. If the Liberals ever bothered to take an interest in Tasmania we could have told them long ago that the future was renewable. In the state proudly producing the most hydroelectric power in the country, proudly publicly owned, renewable energy powers industry, homes and small business across Tasmania. It delivers jobs and financial security for thousands of Tasmanian families and provides a blueprint for national renewable energy success. The Albanese government is making up for a decade of inaction with a $20 billion Rewiring the Nation fund to deliver long-overdue and desperately needed upgrades to our grid, with major projects in Tasmania already announced. Ten thousand kilometres of additional transmission lines will link cheap and clean renewable energy, including in Tasmania, via the Marinus Link to the existing grid. Five out of every six jobs that Rewiring the Nation provides will be delivered across regional Australia. That's good news for people living in the regions. But, instead, we have those opposite complaining about the impact of transmission lines on cattle and sheep.

The Albanese government also delivered more than $1.7 billion for the energy savings package in the last budget and of course the energy bill relief that those opposite voted against. You can't come in here complaining about power price rises when you're voting against— (Time expired)

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