Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer please advise the House how the National Energy Guarantee will work to boost Australia's productivity, creating more and better-paying jobs for hardworking Australians not just in Petrie but all around Australia? Is the Treasurer aware of any alternative approaches?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Petrie for his question. The five-yearly review of productivity that this government tasked the Productivity Commission to undertake contains a section which says 'fixing the energy mess'. It calls it an appalling mess, and it was a mess created by the Labor Party. The Productivity Commission has said that, if we want more and better-paid jobs, which is what productivity means, we have to fix that mess. And we are fixing that appalling mess, which is described by the Productivity Commission and which is standing in the way of productivity improvements, which means it's standing in the way of better wages and more and better-paid jobs, which are what this government is focused on delivering.

It calls for a national answer, not an answer where the states go it alone. It calls for a national answer that is technology neutral, that is efficiently priced, that recognises the need to meet our emissions reduction targets, that clearly articulates the trade-off between reliability and cost, and that provides clear direction to expert bodies. We should be listening to those expert bodies, like the Energy Security Board, set up by COAG independently to advise the governments—not just the Commonwealth but all states and territories—on what the best way forward is, picking up on the Finkel review.

That's what they've provided us with. They said at the Productivity Commission that we need to let those market regulators and participants get on with the job. That is exactly what we are doing by supporting the Energy Security Board's National Energy Guarantee, with the right policy settings—and the shadow Treasurer should listen to this particularly because he said it just this morning—that are good for the environment and put downward pressure on prices. That's what he said. That's what the shadow Treasurer said. It's a benchmark for these policies.

The National Energy Guarantee delivers on that benchmark more than any other alternative, certainly those put forward by the opposition. It delivers the investment certainty that is necessary, which has caused the Business Council of Australia to today write to all state and territory leaders, arguing that the guarantee provides the best chance to break the deadlock on climate policy that has paralysed large-scale investment in dispatchable electricity generation for several years.

The shadow Treasurer is like Grandpa Simpson, shouting at the clouds, shaking his fist at the clouds—there he is. Angry and empty are the shadow Treasurer and the members of the Labor frontbench, because their policy is to put prices up by $192, not to put prices down by $115. What a bunch of muppets!