Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on how the government's responsible energy policies will help hardworking Australian families and businesses access more affordable and reliable power, which is something of great concern to constituents in my electorate of Robertson?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Now more than ever, the honourable member's constituents, and the constituents of every member in this House, need to be assured of reliable and affordable power.

Dr Mike Kelly interjecting—

There is a massive threat looming over that prospect—

Dr Mike Kelly interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Eden-Monaro is warned.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and that is the Labor Party and its reckless ideological approach to energy security, which has been demonstrated comprehensively in South Australia.

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Sydney is warned.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Only today, the Treasurer and I met with the Committee for Adelaide, a South Australian business group. Those business leaders are feeling the full brunt of what Jay Weatherill called his 'great experiment'. Well, it is an experiment that has failed. It has failed workers; it has failed businesses; and it has failed households. The chairman, Colin Goodall, said: 'Power has become a daily conversation in South Australia. It is difficult to attract new businesses to South Australia due to electricity being unreliable.' Those views were reinforced by every member of his delegation. One member said that he was considering moving his business out of South Australia and that he was not able to expand in the way his competitors interstate were able to expand, because of unavailable, unreliable and unaffordable power. Colin Goodall, the chairman of the committee said, 'South Australia is the canary in the coalmine.'

That is where Australia's energy situation will end up if the Labor Party are allowed to carry out their policies. In South Australia, they recognise the consequence of this unplanned introduction of a massive amount of wind power and variable renewable energy into the grid without any plan and without any proper analysis of how it could be integrated. We know what happened. We have seen it.

The Labor Party and the opposition leader should explain how their 50 per cent renewable energy target is going to work out—

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Sydney has been warned. If she interjects again she will be leaving the chamber, as will the member for Lindsay.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How is that going to work out? And how is he going to deliver on double the emissions reductions already committed to by the government—double what we have agreed to in Paris? And they have no plan whatsoever to maintain the stability or the affordability of our energy system. We cannot let that unreliability, that unaffordability, that threat to jobs, that threat to business, that threat to families, go right across Australia. That is Labor's promise if they were to be elected to government.

Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to his previous answer in response to a question from the member for Robertson. Last week in New South Wales, power was cut to households in the electorates of Bennelong, Reid and Robertson. Power was also cut to the Tomago smelter, whose usual power consumption is equivalent to almost one million households. This is despite the fact that New South Wales has the highest dependence on coal power in the nation. When will the Prime Minister stop blaming renewable energy and admit he has a national energy crisis on his hands?

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Reid is warned.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The delusion of the member for Port Adelaide is remarkable—really! This is a member from South Australia who described the blackouts in South Australia, including the one in September last year that cost Arrium—a business struggling to survive; a business where thousands of workers' jobs depend on its survival; on a knife's edge—$30 million. And what did the member for Port Adelaide describe it as? It was 'a hiccup'; just another hiccup! And he complains about one hiccup after another in South Australia. You are seeing businesses being put to the wall in his own state and his own constituents losing their jobs, and he does not think it matters.

What about the owner of a seafood restaurant in Port Lincoln who said he had no trade for 2½ days—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Port Adelaide, on a point of order.

Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Again, direct relevance, Speaker—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Port Adelaide will resume his seat.

Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister had—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Port Adelaide will resume his seat.

Mr Butler interjecting—

The member for Port Adelaide will resume his seat.

Mr Butler interjecting—

The member for Port Adelaide will leave the chamber under 94(a).

The member for Port Adelaide then left the chamber.

The Prime Minister has the call.

Opposition members interjecting—

I am not going to have members openly defy my requests for them to resume their seat.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member, who is leaving the chamber now, simply cannot cope with the truth. The truth is that South Australia's experiment has failed. And it is all very well for the delusionists on the Labor side—

Opposition members interjecting—

It is all very well for them to shout and yell. I do not think they would be shouting and yelling at the South Australian businesses that are here today, whose businesses and whose employees are being put at risk and whose competitive position is being disadvantaged, or the pensioners in South Australia who cannot afford to turn on the air conditioner because it is the most expensive power in the country and, when they can afford it, they cannot be sure that it will come on when they flick the switch.

There is no point in Labor denying the fact that every South Australian knows: if you introduce a massive amount of variable renewable energy, of wind or solar, into your grid, and you do so without proper planning, without the backup, without the firming power, without the storage, then you increase the vulnerability of your grid, and that is exactly what AEMO has said. It is precisely what they have said. So they have made the grid less resilient—more vulnerable to the blackouts that are destroying jobs across South Australia.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will resume his seat.

Mr Pyne interjecting—

The Leader of the House will cease interjecting. Has the Prime Minister concluded his answer? The Prime Minister has concluded his answer.