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

My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Energy. Will the minister update the House on how the government is creating jobs by delivering a more affordable and reliable energy system and investing in nation-building energy projects such as Snowy 2.0? Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Robertson for her question. I know she's deeply committed to creating more jobs for the people of Gosford, the people of Mooney Mooney and the people of Woy Woy across her electorate. She's proud to be part of the Turnbull government, which has helped create more than 420,000 new jobs over the last 12 months, more than 327,000 of which are full time. We've had 17 consecutive months of job growth—the most consecutive months of jobs growth on record—something that we on this side of the House are very proud of.

Project Snowy 2.0 is a nation-building project that will create jobs in three key ways. Firstly, it will see the creation of more than 5,000 jobs in building 27 kilometres of tunnel and the new power station. We will be standing on the shoulders of giants, like the grandfather of the member for Hume, who was the chief engineer on the original Snowy project that was championed by Sir Robert Menzies and Chifley. The member for Chifley himself, whose father worked on the Snowy project, like many on that side of the House, is proud. Somebody who's particularly pleased that we're going ahead with Snowy 2.0 is the member for Eden-Monaro. Do you know what he said, Mr Speaker? He said this is an exciting project for the nation. That's what he said. So the Labor Party is supporting the Turnbull government's plan.

The other way this will create jobs is by creating a big battery for the east coast of Australia. It will smooth out the volatility as more renewables come into the system. The big lesson out of South Australia's big experiment that went wrong under Labor was that as more wind and solar comes in the system, you need the backup storage, whether that is batteries or pumped hydro, and this is what Snowy 2.0 will do.

The third way we will be creating jobs is by the Commonwealth now taking 100 per cent ownership of Snowy 2.0. The Treasurer has unleashed more than $6 billion for productive infrastructure in the states of New South Wales and Victoria. That's more than $4 billion in New South Wales and more than $2 billion in Victoria for roads, rail and bridges funded by the federal government in the states of New South Wales and Victoria. So Snowy 2.0 will help us not only improve our energy system but will also ensure that thousands of new jobs are created.