Mike Kelly (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence Industry and Support) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The CEO of Snowy Hydro has clearly stated that building new coal-fired power plants 'doesn't stack up', and the chief operating officer has said it would mean Snowy 2.0 is not viable. As the government is the sole shareholder, has advice been sought from Snowy Hydro about the impact of building new coal-fired power plants on the viability of Snowy 2.0?

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

Partisan divisions aside, I cannot thank the honourable member enough for asking me a question about Snowy Hydro. What a great demonstration of Australian engineering! What a great example of the vision of Labor and coalition governments in the past! Snowy Hydro 2.0 is the next stage that is going to deliver thousands of jobs into the Eden-Monaro electorate and provide secure, dispatchable, baseload power into the future. The honourable member referred to some remarks by Paul Broad. He is entitled to his opinion, but we have a policy that is entirely technology agnostic. The National Energy Guarantee provides no disincentives for anyone to build a new coal-fired power station or refurbish an existing one, any more than it provides a disincentive for people to build more gas or, indeed, more hydro.

Mr Hart interjecting—

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

The member for Bass is warned.

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

What it does is prioritise dispatchability, which had been sadly missing from all of the green-Left energy policies of the Labor Party. That, of course, supports thermal power. As far as Snowy Hydro 2.0 is concerned, I'd remind the honourable member of this: Snowy Hydro 2.0 will be a big baseload customer of all providers of energy—generators, renewables, but including coal-fired power. A power station that runs 24 hours a day, like a coal-fired power station, does not have the same demand 24 hours of the day. A big pumped hydro scheme will be buying power from coal-fired generators in the off-peak times and will provide that off-peak baseload demand. So it is one that will provide support right across the industry, but the bottom line is: let the market decide on which technology to determine. Let the market decide. What we are prioritising is affordability, reliability and meeting those emissions reduction targets. We can do all three. The NEG does it. It will bring down energy prices for the reasons that Paul Broad has advanced. It will bring down energy prices, and that is going to be good for families, it's going to be good for businesses, large and small, and above all it's going to be great for Australian jobs.