Alison Byrnes (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I must say the hypocrisy of this MPI today is astounding—and during Science Meets Parliament week, no less. It's yet to be seen whether those opposite actually believe in science, and I won't be holding my breath. Thanks to those opposite, we inherited an energy crisis in 2022. They had 22 energy policies and could not land a single one. I think they may have a slight issue with selective memory, but don't worry; I'll help you out. Just in case you forgot, during your decade in office, 24 of our country's coal fired power stations announced that they were going to close. Not only that, eight stations actually closed under your watch, despite your coal-wielding leader, who was in no rush to put one of your 22 policies in place.

On Tuesday, the release of the default market offer, the DMO, showed the retail energy bill benchmark stabilising and trending downwards after the biggest global energy crisis in 50 years. The draft DMO shows price reductions in most jurisdictions, with up to nearly 10 per cent reductions for some small businesses and more than seven per cent reductions for some households. Whilst the evidence shows that our plan is working, we know that families and businesses have still been doing it tough and we're not backing away or hiding from the problems like those opposite. Remember when they changed the law to hide a 20 per cent price hike right before the election? Well, we do. We're doing all that we can to support Aussie families and businesses, and that's why we urgently capped skyrocketing coal and gas prices, and we have been rolling out bill relief to around five million households and small businesses since July last year. Remember when those opposite voted against urgent bill relief for many millions of Australians, including pensioners, low-income families, and veterans? Well, we remember.

The Albanese Labor government's plan is the only one supported by experts to deliver a clean, cheap, reliable and resilient energy system. It's supported by independent advice from the CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator—that the lowest cost plan for a reliable energy grid is Australia's world-leading renewables, like solar and wind, firmed up with batteries, pumped hydro, flexible gas, and transmission. That's what our 82 per cent renewables by 2030 plan delivers, and we are getting on with the job.

Last year alone, we saw a record investment in batteries and large-scale storage, with $4.9 billion in new financial commitments—27 large-scale batteries under construction at the end of 2023, over 337,000 rooftop solar systems installed across the country and 5.9 gigawatts of renewable generation added. Whilst the opposition are out there playing scare tactics and making smokescreens with nuclear plans, we know that nuclear energy is wrong for Australia. It is far too expensive and it will take far too long to build. Our chief scientist and market operators know this. Business knows this. And the energy market themselves know this. Even AGL, the single biggest owner of coal fired power stations in Australia, have left the opposition leader out in the cold by ruling out building nuclear plants at the sites of their retiring generators.

But I must say that our Prime Minister put it best yesterday. He said:

Nuclear power is a lot like the Liberal Party. No help to anyone today, completely wrong for Australia's future, and notorious for waste that takes forever to clean up.

The Albanese Labor government is committed to ensuring that Australia has a reliable energy system over the coming decades, whilst those opposite are dreaming up a recipe for disaster and a reliability crisis. All month we have been waiting for those opposite to release their grand nuclear plan. But we find out this week that they are yet to work out four of the smaller issues—issues like safety, disposal, cost or location. Where are you going to put them?

We understand rising bills are one of the big challenges facing Australian families and small businesses, and that's why we're rolling out targeted relief that won't increase inflation. On 1 July this year, Labor will deliver a tax cut for every Australian taxpayer, because on this side of the chamber we want Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn. Our changes mean that all 13.6 million taxpayers will receive a tax cut—2.9 million more than would have benefited under the previous government's plan from five years ago.

See this speech in context