Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy Affordability) Share this | Hansard source

If this Albanese Labor government wants to make more products in Australia then I have a big tip for the Prime Minister: our manufacturers and small businesses need cheaper, reliable and secure power. Our Aussie manufacturers are crying out for more gas supply in the domestic market to bring down the cost of doing business. Small businesses want to see their energy bills lowered, not continuing to rise.

Instead, the bills being debated today, the Future Made in Australia Bill 2024 and the Future Made in Australia (Omnibus Amendments No. 1) Bill 2024, would enhance the Minister for Climate Change and Energy's ability to drive his all-eggs-in-one-basket, renewables-only approach when it comes to our nation's energy grid. I understand that the omnibus bill expands the Australian Renewable Energy Agency's function from research and development and demonstration to supporting manufacturing, deployment and commercialisation. ARENA has always been an R&D agency, and this is clear in its remit. When the Labor Party was in opposition they opposed expanding the remit to cover sensible net zero related R&D expenditure, including for carbon capture and storage and for blue hydrogen. But now that they're in government and are on an ideological steam train to attempt to power the nation on only renewables, they have changed their minds.

Why not add in uranium and the ability for our country to have 24/7 baseload nuclear power to ensure our energy security? After all, the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine. The media has been writing constantly about the energy crisis facing this nation because of the government's approach, with wind droughts and potential outages because of a lack of gas. They now want to expand ARENA's powers to incorporate projects they want to see get up—more renewables—rather than having the agency assist with research and development efforts. If this is going to be the case, then what's next for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation? Even further, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy will be able to pump more taxpayer dollars into his reckless renewables-only approach with the stroke of a pen. There will be no parliamentary oversight and no scrutiny, just some delegated legislation and, in an election year, $3.98 billion can walk out the door.

We know that the Productivity Commission recently said the Albanese Labor government's $1 billion Solar Sunshot program should be retrospectively subjected to a tougher National Interest Framework test. Even the Treasurer's hand-picked productivity commissioner knows this government is making up policy on the run. What's worse is that $1 billion of taxpayer money is attached. She also went on to say:

If we are supporting industries that don't have a long-term competitive advantage, that can be an ongoing cost. It diverts resources, that's workers and capital, away from other parts of the economy where they might generate high value uses.

The Treasury secretary has refused to back the project as well.

Why are ministers afraid to put these projects with large sums of public money forward for adequate scrutiny? I thought this was going to be an open government, a government of transparency. This was obviously another broken promise to the Australian people. The Treasury was apparently not consulted on the decision to invest in solar manufacturing, and their analysis afterwards demonstrated that it was not a sound investment. We need to put the public's money towards projects that are backed in by experts with public servant advice and that meet the pub test. Let's help our current businesses continue to stay open and to thrive in an economy that actually works.

The coalition isn't against solar. In fact, we are proud that Australia is the best nation in the world for rooftop solar. We want to see public investment in areas where we can be competitive, successful and rewarded with thriving industries, not propped up ones. Unfortunately, insolvencies have tripled since this Labor government took office in 2022. You could say it's ridiculous, but it's actually heartbreaking. Australia should be a place for the fair go, but, increasingly, the policy settings and bills being put forward by the government are not conducive to this. So many of our domestic manufacturers right across Greater Western Sydney rely on gas to power their businesses. But the government won't invest in more gas or things like carbon capture and storage and blue hydrogen. Our local manufacturers are proud to make Aussie products on a daily basis, but, because of the energy market and industry policies of this government, we're seeing record numbers of manufacturers closing their doors. In turn, everyday Australians are losing their jobs and livelihoods. These small, medium and large-scale manufacturers need cheaper power prices right now to survive in the current economic climate.

In my Western Sydney community, I recently visited a local steel manufacturer in Emu Plains. The manager told me the company's gas bill had risen about 40 per cent since Labor took office. This is extraordinary, but it gets worse. An advanced defence manufacturing industry in Jamisontown told me their energy costs have grown by an astronomical 100 per cent. They looked into the government's solar for business scheme to get government assistance, but it was not feasible for their business. The director told me that it didn't matter about the number of solar panels that they could put on their roof, because the amount of power produced would not be enough to ensure that they could power their business. They could maybe only power the office. Additionally, the structure of the roof would not be able to hold the solar panels. This local manufacturer needs gas, and it needs it at an affordable price.

More supply will bring down the cost of gas, particularly for heavy industry. These are manufacturers that are crying out for good, long-term contracts, but they're starting to get worried about domestic supply due to the lack of approval coming from the Albanese Labor government. Small businesses, particularly in Western Sydney, where the cost-of-living crunch is unbearable, need effective policies—not a small $325 handout, which will realistically go nowhere in terms of paying the real costs of the energy they need to create products, operate their business and employ so many locals.

Last week we saw business closure statistics released. The stats were dire for Western Sydney. CreditorWatch's most recent update of its business risk index noted that 90 per cent of Australia will see an increase in the number of business failures in the year ahead. From this dataset, Western Sydney is one of the two hardest hit regions in our country. Our manufacturers and our small businesses are struggling so much right now. We need good industry policy in competitive industries to get our country ahead. But instead of doing so, and fighting for jobs that will lead us back to the head of the pack, we have a government that is focused on paying for projects that suit their ideological positioning on energy. We need to see real, positive signals from government to ensure private sector support across industry, including gas, resources and renewables. But, when a government is solely focused on renewables and putting public money through these bills' mechanisms towards them, we can fail as a nation. We don't want more blackouts and brownouts. We need to have policies that will stimulate the economy and ensure people, businesses, small businesses and manufacturers right across the country can thrive on their own. There needs to be the right tax incentives in place for business to invest in Australia as well. We are seeing disastrous economy, industry and energy policies that are impacting manufacturers, small businesses and, in turn, the lives of everyday families across this nation. We've seen 12 mortgage rate rises under the Albanese Labor government. Real wages have slumped nine per cent. There has been an eight per cent drop in living standards. Household savings have dipped by 10 per cent. Going to the bowser for petrol and getting fresh food and vegetables have become more expensive as well.

In my patch, as the shadow minister for energy affordability, it's absolutely heartbreaking to hear the stories of families that cannot pay to keep the lights on. Dual-income households across Penrith are asking food banks to help them pay their bills. They are doing that because they are too proud to take food away from the homeless. This is the economy we are living in right now due to the failure of economic, industry and energy policies by those opposite. More than 600 households are applying for energy hardship payments every single week. Industry and households are paying well above 20 per cent more for their power than they did during the last coalition government. To make the energy, cost-of-living and manufacturing crises much worse, we have a Labor government that is currently overseeing 90 per cent of 24/7 baseload power leaving the energy system over the next few years. It's laughable that the Prime Minister, when he was leading the opposition, quipped:

At the end of the first term of a Labor Government, when we reflect on what we have built, we'll see this … an economy that makes more things here at home, powered by cheap renewable energy.

Isn't the opposite of that statement true? Our Aussie manufacturers are paying some of the highest prices on the globe for energy.

If it weren't so sad, it would be laughable that this Labor government think they will power ahead with a future made in Australia without an energy policy that will supply consistent, reliable and secure power for industry and businesses. The government cannot solve the industry issues in this country by continuing to funnel public funds into projects to meet their own interim climate change targets without thinking about the energy, security and costs facing Australia. It's time for the government to admit their faults and step back from these bills as they currently read.

Better industry comes from providing the correct economic policies to provide an environment that will help business flourish. The coalition in government will do three things in this space: we will steer our nation out of our multiple current domestic crises; we'll not just talk about the challenges of our time but we'll meet them head on, with action to carve out a more secure future; and, most importantly, we'll make the decisions that set Australia up for success for many generations to come. There are six core ways to get this done. We will rein in inflationary spending to take pressure off inflation rather than spend billions on corporate welfare for the Labor Party's pet projects. We'll wind back Labor's interventions by removing regulatory roadblocks that are causing harm to the economy and stopping so many businesses from getting ahead. We will condense approval processes and remove red-tape barriers that continue to harm mining, entrepreneurialism and jobs. The coalition will remove the complexity and hostility of this Labor government's industrial relations agenda that is putting imposts on businesses, particularly casual-worker changes impacting our small businesses. Under a coalition government, we will provide lower, simpler and fairer taxes, as all Australians should keep more of what they earn. We need changes to competition policy to give businesses a fair go and ensure projects receiving government funding meet adequate tests, which is of concern in these bills. We will ensure Australians have more affordable and reliable energy. As the bill reads, the coalition opposes them.

We need a government that believes in providing cheaper, reliable and secure energy for this nation. No-one wants to just back in renewable projects. The coalition wants renewables to be built here, and by taking the energy grid, but they need to be backed by 24/7 baseload power that gas and nuclear can provide and which the government does not want to explore under these bills. Only the coalition can truly bring back 'Aussie Made'.

Quorum formed.

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