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

As I was saying, this Labor government does not understand how to manage the economy. They do not understand the importance of the economy.

In the coalition, on the other hand, we understand that the economy is not an end unto itself but, rather, that a strong economy is the means by which you underpin a strong standard of living. A strong economy is the means by which you can guarantee Australians' way of life. A strong economy is the means by which Australians can pursue whatever it is they wish to pursue. A strong economy is what allows people to buy houses, to afford the rent, to afford to educate the children and to pay for their health care. A strong economy is what allows our broader nation to be strong within a volatile Indo-Pacific.

But this Labor government does not understand the importance of a strong economy. Labor sees an economy as nothing more than an ability to take money from taxpayers and play with it with whatever their latest ideological proclivity might be. We know that right now Australians are actually paying the highest level of income tax that they ever have. Up to 26.1 per cent of people's income, by average, is being paid in tax. That has grown enormously under this government—by around about three per cent. They want to continue to take people's money. This means that the average Australian ends up being out of pocket by about $3½ thousand because of this government's tax take. For a couple, two income makers in one house, that's $7,000. The thing is that, with the money they have left after they've given another $7,000 to the Labor Party government, they can buy less anyway because everything has gone up because of this government's homegrown inflation.

Of course, we know that Labor is very proud of the fact that they have already announced a $150 energy relief package as part of the budget they'll announce tonight, something the coalition will not stand in the way of, because we know that, under their policies, Australian families are on their knees, hurting. We know that Australian businesses are closing at a rapid rate. Some 29,000 businesses have gone insolvent, in large part due to the failed energy policies of this government, so we will not stand in the way, but let's not kid ourselves as to the business model of the government.

Really, the energy relief payments by this government, which now add up to somewhere around about $6.8 billion, are nothing but mopping up a failure in energy policy, and yet the Treasurer sells it as a virtue of how wonderful the Labor Party is. Seriously? He is a modern-day Fagin taken out of a Charles Dickens novel—teaching the caucus of the Labor Party how to play with their constituents' money. You see, what you do is you sneak up behind them, you take $150 out of their back pocket and then you run in front of them and go, 'Aha! Here is $150,' and you put it in their front pocket. Then you say, 'Aren't we great? We're fixing the energy problems.' This is their business model. They have no solutions to deal with the problem.

Of course, we're talking about Australians paying $3,500 more in tax on average under this government, so it is only 150 bucks they are going to get back in the front pocket. Everything else goes to the ideological dreams of the Labor Party, and nobody steals more than the Minister for Climate Change and Energy—just as an aside. We are talking about tens of billions of dollars on his 'all eggs in one basket' renewables-only program—a program that is already driving Australian businesses to the wall. We are seeing industries close, we are seeing regional Australian economies hauling out, and we are seeing manufacturers closing the doors and relocating to Asia as a direct consequence of these policies.

Those opposite want to close down baseload power stations. They would suffocate gas. Their renewables program is running at half the pace that they promised it would, so Australians are now paying among the highest prices for electricity in the world. This is a direct consequence of this Labor government. This is cost-of-living pain directly caused by this Labor government. Their only solutions to energy are (1) to keep going for an 82 per cent renewable energy grid, (2) that they want green hydrogen—it was in the paper today—which will require a doubling of the grid to deliver on that dream, and (3) that they want to import natural gas. This is their solution. It is a disgrace and all of you— (Time expired)

See this speech in context