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

I apologise, Deputy Speaker, but if the minister wishes to interject with the costings of his policy, he is more than welcome to do so right now. It's not taken. Note that for the Hansard. Yesterday, the Prime Minister was given three opportunities to answer the question about the total system cost of his plan—two questions, one intervention, three times. Not once could he tell us the number. Last night, though, we had the minister go on television and say the total system cost will be $121 billion. But does that include projects like Snowy 2.0? No. What about CopperString? No, it doesn't include that, either. Does it include all behind-the-metre investments made by consumers? No, that's not part of it, either. How about the distribution network? The minister decided he was going to lecture the House today about the difference between transmission and distribution. The distribution network is not included.

So maybe I was wrong. Maybe it's not unconscious incompetence; maybe it is unconscious incompetence. Either way, he is wrong—$121 billion.

Since this government and this minister are incapable of saying the cost, let's go to the Princeton University, University of Melbourne and University of Queensland Net Zero Australia study, which makes it clear that it's $1.2 trillion. That's with a 'T', Minister—trillion dollars. This goes to why we're in this trouble right now. If the minister himself doesn't know the costing of his plan, it's no wonder Australians are now paying among the highest electricity bills in the world. This government has stalled on its renewables rollout. It is running, according to experts, at one-third of the pace at which it should.

This government is suffocating the supply of gas in this country. Right now we have market operators speaking to companies, asking them to not produce so much through winter—down tools, produce less—for fear that, otherwise, households can't use gas. We have, under this minister, 90 per cent of Australia's base-load power exiting the grid over the next decade. Has this minister ever stood and spoken about the need to ensure that we do not prematurely close base-load power stations without a replacement? Never, not even with his own counterparts in New South Wales about the Eraring extension. He's on record saying, 'At most it's maybe a couple of months.' They recently came out saying 'up to four years'. This is the level of incompetence of this minister and of this government, and who pays the price? I'll tell you who: the senior citizen I spoke to at the Sunshine Coast Agricultural Show—that's who. The people who are rocking up to the Salvos and Vinnies, needing help, are the ones who will pay for this absolute incompetence. And it goes on and on.

At the end of the day, under this incompetent Labor government—which still, to this day, cannot cost its own policy in government, with all its resources—it's the Australian people who are hurting. There's a reason why Australians feel poorer today than they did two years ago. That's because they are. Australia as a nation is weaker because of this government, and the minister who sits across from me today is now welcome to stand up and explain to the Australian people the total system cost of his energy plan through to net zero 2050. Minister, it's all yours. Give us a number.

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