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

My question is to the Prime Minister. This morning, the environment minister said: 'I would welcome a new coal-fired power station.' Does the Prime Minister agree?

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

Coal has a very important role in our energy mix, and I have no doubt it will for many, many years to come—possibly forever. Who can tell? The reality is that we have a technology-agnostic approach to energy policy. The subsidies are coming to an end. The renewable energy target will be complete in 2020. It will all be met. And what we have with the National Energy Guarantee is, for the first time, the combination of abilities to ensure that power is affordable, that it's reliable, that you have enough dispatchable power to keep the lights on, and, of course, that you meet the Paris commitments that we've entered into.

We are already seeing our energy policies working. Already we've seen that the wholesale price of gas has halved in the last 18 months. There was a massive shortage of gas on the east coast of Australia created by the Labor Party, created by a federal Labor government and a Queensland state Labor government, which allowed gas to be exported from the east coast without any regard to the domestic consequences. We've resolved that with additional gas supply. We've already seen the wholesale cost of generation down 30 per cent over the last year. And, finally, we're now starting to see a reduction in the cost of energy for mums and dads, for small businesses, for families. Retail prices are starting to come down for both families and small business. So, we're turning the corner on energy costs—energy costs driven up by the combination of left-wing ideology and Labor incompetence. Ideology and idiocy are a very dangerous combination. That is what the Labor Party brings to economics.

Today we've heard in the Leader of the Opposition's latest captain's call, his latest attack or riposte to the member for Grayndler. The member for Grayndler went out and said Labor should be friendly to business. So what does the Leader of the Opposition do? He says to thousands of family-owned small and medium businesses across the country: if he's elected Prime Minister, he's going to jack up their tax. That's what he wants to do. He is going to put at risk millions of Australians' jobs. Not only is he going to put up personal income tax; he's going to put up the tax of the businesses that employ more than half of the Australian private sector workforce.

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

The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business has the call.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business (House)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I'm just asking if there can be a passing reference that's relevant to the question about coal-fired power stations.

Mr Frydenberg interjecting—

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

The Minister for the Environment and Energy will cease interjecting. The Manager of Opposition Business makes a valid point of order. There can be a passing reference. I was about to pull the Prime Minister up. That was a very specific question, and it was very specific to coal-fired power stations.