Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Wholesale energy prices in this country have doubled under this government. We have record-high electricity prices and a record number of energy policies by this hopeless and incompetent government. We had the Direct Action dog. We had the emissions intensity scheme, which lasted for 12 hours before the ministers surrendered to the member for Warringah. We had the Clean Energy Target with Alan Finkel for nine months before, again, the Prime Minister folded. And then we had the National Energy Guarantee. Now it looks like the dinosaurs in the Liberal Party room, with their allies in the National Party room, are now holding the Prime Minister hostage again.

We saw that the National Party is now demanding $5 billion for new coal-fired power stations before they sign up to the NEG. This is unacceptable because everybody knows that the cheapest and the most reliable new form of power generation in this country is a combination of renewable energy—solar and wind—backed up by gas peaking plants and pumped hydro storage. That is the cheapest and most reliable form of new generation. What the National Party room are saying, and what the Prime Minister will inevitably surrender to, is, 'We want to add to people's electricity bills by spending $5 billion building new coal-fired power stations.' This is a recipe for higher power prices, higher emissions and stopping the growth of renewable energy that the rest of the country knows is so desperately needed. Yet again, we have a weak Prime Minister, a craven Prime Minister, who will do anything to appease his party room rather than look after the people of Australia. (Time expired)