Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

The outfit that never bothered to have a national energy policy in their entire 10 years of government and doesn't have a national energy policy now has never seen a dodgy scare campaign that it doesn't want to grab with both hands. This is an outfit that loves nothing more than a cocked-up, made-to-order independent report from its mates at Frontier Economics. Does it ever listen to expert advice and analysis? No. Does it ever give respect to organisations like the Australian Energy Market Operator? No. But Frontier Economics—the same crew that developed Tony Abbott's direct action plan?—yes please; come in, spinner. And how did that go? We inherited high and rising prices from those opposite, including energy prices, and we've done two things: we've taken action to provide relief, and we've taken action to set Australia up for a better future. We've taken action to deliver a cheaper and cleaner energy system in the long term.

What has the coalition done? They've obstructed every single piece of cost relief that has been designed to help Australian households that are doing it tough, and they've obstructed every bit of reform that we have pursued in trying to clean up their awful mess. They obstructed the gas price caps at the end of 2022. They've obstructed energy price relief on every occasion that we've tried to deliver that to Australian households and, of course, every single bit of reform that we've come along with after a decade of neglect, after a decade of no national energy plan—a decade in which energy generation in Australia went backwards by one gigawatt. And the only thing that the former minister for energy was prepared to do in the face of high and rising prices and in the face of decreasing energy supply was to come along at the last moment and try to hide from the Australian people the fact that energy prices were rising in the shadow of an election.

We will continue to focus on supporting Australian households and supporting Australian businesses, and we will focus on creating a cheaper, cleaner and more secure and self-sufficient Australian energy system. That will have direct benefits to households. That will have direct benefits to businesses. But of course it has other benefits, too, because the world is going through a clean energy transformation, and there are opportunities for us, with our comparative advantages when it comes to wind, solar, storage and other forms of green technology. We have to get these for the benefit of businesses in this country, for the benefit of export and for the benefit of Australian workers.

What we have done has seen electricity prices fall.

Indeed, they've fallen 12.3 per cent since June 2023. Without the direct energy bill relief that we've supplied, they would be 15.4 per cent higher now. That is relief to Australian households that those opposite opposed. Every time people get their bills and see the relief that we've delivered, they should know how much worse it would be if those opposite had their way.

We know that building a cleaner and cheaper energy future requires more renewables and storage because it's the cheapest form of new energy generation, and, frankly, Australians know that, because one in three Australians have home solar PV. It delivers cheaper energy to them. Last week, for the first time, we crossed four million households in Australia, out of 11½ million households, with solar PV. We have the highest penetration of solar PV in the world because it allows people to have access to cheaper energy. That technology has become more efficient over time—a lot of it with Australian innovation built into it—and it's become cheaper. In fact, solar PV for households has become 85 per cent cheaper over the last 10 years.

We are now working to extend those benefits to more Australians, particularly to those who face the most disadvantage. We have the Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative, which is delivering the benefits of solar and batteries to social housing tenants around Australia. I was glad to be in South Australia when we announced that program earlier, and I've seen a couple of community batteries that have been opened in South Australia, where, in each case, 300 social housing tenants are getting the benefit of virtual power plants to bring down their energy prices, on average, by $550 a year. That's the kind of work that we are focused on. That's the kind of better future we are trying to build for Australians.

The shadow minister was part of a do-nothing government that gave Australia high energy prices, energy insecurity and a reduction in energy generation. Now those opposite, after having done nothing for 10 years, are only in the game of fearmongering and obstruction and dodgy made-to-order reports. While those opposite try to deceive and scare Australians with the daft renewable energy slogan that we hear so often, the Australian community know that they're looking at what is in effect an obstruction-only coalition, a fearmongering-only coalition and, unfortunately, a nuclear-only coalition.

The shadow minister was talking before about some of the things that are true about nuclear technology. It's mature. It's been around for 70 years; it's not a new technology. It has never been able to address its biggest flaw, which is its unbelievable, eye-watering cost. I just talked about solar energy getting cheaper—85 per cent cheaper in the last 10 years. Nuclear energy has got more and more expensive over time. The capital costs have become more expensive. The operating costs have become more expensive. We know that, if those opposite got the chance to inflict nuclear energy on the Australian community, it would take 15 to 20 years, it would cost $600 billion and it would cost every Australian household $1,200 or more per annum. That is the reality of nuclear energy. It is slow to deliver. It is inflexible, uncommercial, uninvestable and uninsurable, not to mention dangerous and risky.

And it is in decline worldwide. The shadow minister tries to tell a story that suggests that actually nuclear is going big elsewhere. It is not. Nuclear energy peaked as a proportion of global energy in 1996. Twenty-eight years ago, nuclear energy peaked as a proportion of global energy, and it has been falling since then. The number of reactors worldwide peaked in 2002. Twenty-two years ago, the number of reactors peaked. There are fewer now. Last year, globally, the world added 440 gigawatts of new non-hydro renewables, and nuclear energy generation went backwards by one gigawatt—plus 440 gigawatts of new renewables and minus one gigawatt of new nuclear.

If you look at the United States, which is currently the largest generator of nuclear energy, they added 39 gigawatts of new renewables last year and no new nuclear. That is the reality. China added 217 gigawatts of new renewables and only one gigawatt of new nuclear. That is the reality of nuclear worldwide. It is in decline. It is not growing. As a proportion of energy it is lower than it was 28 years ago, and in countries like France and the US it's at a 25-year low.

One of the things that they have promised is that there will be small modular reactors for some communities in Australia, including Collie in Western Australia. There is no such thing as a small modular reactor. They don't exist. The poster child of the modular reactor world was the NuScale modular reactor, which the shadow minister himself was deeply in love with. It began by claiming in 2019 that it would deliver in 2024—that it would be operative this year—720 megawatts for $8 billion. In 2023 the revised projection was going to deliver one-third less power for $14 billion in 2029. It revised its initial estimates by saying it would deliver one-third less power for 75 per cent more cost and a five-year delay. And then—tick, tick, tick, boom—it disappeared altogether. It crashed and burned and it took $900 million of US taxpayers' money with it. That is the kind of nutty project that those opposite would like to inflict on the Australian community.

See this speech in context