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. Modelling in the Finkel report assumes no new coal-fired power stations will be built under a clean energy target. The Chief Scientist said about new coal-fired power stations: 'it would be surprising if government's were to endorse a scheme that incentivised them'. Does the Prime Minister agree with the Chief Scientist?

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

The Finkel report is a report to governments, to COAG. We thank Dr Finkel for his work, and the members of his panel who contributed to it. The honourable member should understand that what Dr Finkel proposes as a clean energy target does not penalise coal. It does not prohibit the construction of a coal-fired power station or indeed a gas-fired power station. What he seeks to do is to provide incentives for lower-emissions technologies, including, but not exclusively, renewables.

The fundamental challenge that the honourable member faces is that he hails from the state of South Australia. He comes from a state where a complete failure of planning has resulted in the most expensive and least secure electricity in Australia. He comes from a state which has seen the closure of base-load power, with not a unit of storage or backup to put in its place. So the honourable member's fellow South Australians know full well what happens when energy policy is driven by ideology and politics, as opposed to engineering and economics.

We face a real challenge in energy policy in this country. We are about to become the largest exporter of LNG, yet we have had a shortage of gas on the east coast of Australia. My government is taking decisive action to address it. We face that challenge. What has caused it? Politics—state governments refusing to allow the exploration of gas and the development of gas resources.

Mr Watts interjecting—

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

The member for Gellibrand is warned!

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

We have seen in South Australia a complete failure to consider that various sources of electricity, such as wind and solar, need backup, need storage. What did Labor do about it? Nothing. What are we doing about it? Snowy Hydro 2.0—the largest addition of storage in our history. We as an Australian government are for the first time recognising that we need to change the design of our energy system to give Australians the affordability and security they need and meet emissions reduction targets. Labor's addiction to ideology and politics has brought us to the situation where prices are too high, energy is not reliable enough and we are not achieving enough progress towards those emissions reduction targets. We can solve this trial, but it needs planning, engineering and economics. That is what my government delivers and that is where Labor has failed.