Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

He called on the CSIRO to release their modelling. There's a certain irony here. The architect of the plan says, 'We haven't seen the modelling.' We haven't seen the opposition's policy either. That takes some chutzpah. I've seen some chutzpah in my time in this place, but that takes the yellowcake! This is an opposition which is treating the Australian people with contempt. The member for Fairfax then had a little chat to the CSIRO. He gave them a little TED Talk explaining where they're wrong, which I'm sure they welcomed. I'm sure these experienced economists and scientists welcomed the member for Fairfax telling them why they've got it so wrong. The CSIRO has responded by saying:

We stand by those figures—based on the best global information and applied to local conditions—which allow a meaningful comparison of future energy costs generated by various technologies in the Australian context.

Is it any wonder, with all this chaos and the opposition attacking Australia's premier scientific organisation, that coalition backbenchers are calling their policy 'bonkers' and 'bewildering'? That is perhaps why the Leader of the Opposition hasn't had the guts to release it. He said he'd release it in a couple of weeks 12 weeks ago. He says, 'Oh, we won't be held to your timetable.' He won't be held to his own, which is just another reflection of the fact that the Leader of the Opposition is not up to the job. (Time expired)

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