Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My—

Ms Madeleine King interjecting—

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

The member for Brand will cease interjecting. The Leader of the Opposition has the call.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. What has been the net reduction of energy capacity in the national energy market since this government came to office in 2013?

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Members on both sides: the Prime Minister has the call.

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

Mr Speaker, I can certainly point him to the closure of some very large base-load stations, which was actually connived at—and in fact delivered by—state Labor governments. I mean, the two power stations in South Australia are very good examples. The member for Port Adelaide should be very well aware of that. And Hazelwood certainly was very much a key part of the Victorian Labor government's strategy. But the disappointing part of the opposition's approach to this is: they will not face up to the failure of their own policies. They will not face up to the fact that they pursued the massive introduction of renewables without the backup to make them reliable. If you want to have an economy that is powered by renewable energy, you need to have something to back it in when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine.

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

The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order?

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Direct relevance—it was a serious, specific question.

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

The Prime Minister I am listening to very carefully, as you'd expect. He addressed the substance of that very specific question. He's still on the policy topic. The standing orders make it clear that questions are up to 30 seconds, and answers are up to three minutes. A questioner cannot demand that the minister answering the question simply answer the question and sit down. If he's on the policy topic, he's being directly relevant to the question.

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

There are two statistical matters I want to conclude with. The first is that the opposition leader has claimed in the House that the Australian Energy Regulator has stated that the average price for electricity in Sydney has, since the date of the coalition government being elected four years ago, increased by $1,000 per household. That has been his claim. We've noted that. He has not produced any evidence for it, but we've noted it. He has produced no evidence for it. He hasn't cited any publication at all.

In terms of the changing energy mix, I can refer the honourable member to the AEMO's advice to the government of just a few days ago, in September this year. It says that, over the past decade, 5,199 megawatts of base-load generation has retired and has been replaced by 2,895 megawatts of GPG, 273 megawatts of hydro, 91 megawatts of liquid fuel, 2,965 megawatts of wind, 265 megawatts of large-scale solar, 240 megawatts of coal plant expansion and 160 megawatts of other sources of generation such as biomass. I would encourage him to read the rest of the report.

On that note, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.