Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction. Will the minister update the House on how the Morrison government's gas plan will support the road to recovery from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by delivering the affordable and reliable energy that Australian's rely on?

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Fairfax for his question. He's focused, like all of us on this side of the House, on affordable, reliable energy and gas, working for all Australians. As someone with 20 years experience in business, he knows the important role gas plays in the economy. He knows that the path out of COVID includes affordable, reliable gas driving jobs, driving investment and driving the economy. Gas is important for affordable, reliable electricity. It plays that role. But that's less than half of the use of gas. The other use is as an industrial feedstock, a chemical feedstock. We just heard the minister for agriculture talk about a $100 billion agriculture industry. That can't be achieved without large growth in nitrogen fertiliser, and that is made from gas.

Even before the pandemic hit, we were seeing substantial reductions in the wholesale price of gas—a 42 per cent reduction. That was confirmed recently by the AER, who said, 'We are now seeing wholesale gas prices at the lowest levels we've seen for years.' That's helping to drive down wholesale electricity prices—a 42 per cent reduction in wholesale electricity prices before the pandemic hit. That means that all Australians will benefit from a gas fired recovery.

Gas provides flexible, reliable energy that is a complement to solar and wind. We saw record levels of investment in renewables in 2019. The Clean Energy Regulator tells us that we'll see similar levels this year. Last year, we saw $9 billion of investment in solar and wind. But, for the renewables sector to continue to grow, the grid must be balanced. We know that gas is the perfect partner to intermittent renewables. The Chief Scientist has said as much. Far from competing with renewables, it complements them. It complements them by helping to stabilise the grid, reduce emissions and drive lower prices. That's why we've recently introduced to this place the $1 billion Grid Reliability Fund, focused on dispatchable generation and transmission.

There are many who agree with us. I mentioned, just a moment ago, the Chief Scientist, who agrees on the complementary role of gas with renewables. The member for Hunter agrees. Just last week, he said, 'We will need more gas,' like the Narrabri project in New South Wales—1,300 jobs and more than half of New South Wales's gas requirements. Unlike those opposite, when it comes to gas, we know where we stand: reliable energy, lower prices and lower emissions.