Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. What actions is the Albanese Labor government taking to set Australia's energy network up for the future? What options has the government rejected?

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for the question. We are taking action. For example, the Investor Group on Climate Change has estimated that the Climate Change Bill, which will pass both houses of parliament, will unleash up to $131 billion of investment in our energy system. We're getting on with the job of modernising our energy grid and rewiring the nation to get the electricity, the renewable energy, from where it's produced to where it's consumed, creating thousands of jobs as we do so. We're getting on with the job of creating 400 community batteries across our country, of creating solar banks across our country and of creating 10,000 new energy apprentices, which we'll be saying more about in coming months, to give Australians, and young Australians in particular, the skills to take advantage of the renewable energy revolution, because we on this side of the House believe in some fundamental premises—mainly, that the best form of new energy is the cleanest and cheapest.

It happens to be the case that the best form of energy is clean energy, and that's cheap energy. And that means making some tough decisions, I have to say. We have had to make some difficult choices, like rejecting the most expensive form of energy, and the slowest to deploy. That was a tough decision that the government had to take, after much deliberation—to reject the slowest and most expensive form of energy available!

We got some expert advice from an organisation that I know those opposite don't like called the CSIRO. It's a scientific organisation. I recommend it to those opposite. It recently examined the cost of energy and found that the cheapest energy was renewables. The CSIRO GenCost 2021-22 report said that renewables remain the cheapest new-build electricity generation option in Australia. It found that the most expensive form of energy was nuclear and, also, that this could not be deployed until 2030. I'm not sure how you reduce emissions between now and 2030 with a form of energy that can't be deployed until 2030 and is expensive. Firm renewables are $46 a megawatt hour. The small modular nuclear reactor that the opposition seems to like is up to $326 a megawatt hour—the most expensive and slowest form of energy.

It's like the Leader of the Opposition walks into a restaurant and they say, 'What are you going to have—a meal really quickly that's really tasty and can be delivered at once? Or you can have a meal in a week's time that is more expensive.' You ask for a nice Wagyu beef and you get a well-done Angus instead.

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Minister for Climate Change and Energy may like his steak, but he'll also refer to members by their correct titles if he chooses to do that. I give the call to the Member for Mackellar.