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

I have received a letter from the honourable member for Fairfax proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

This Government's policies which continue to drive up the price Australian families and businesses pay for energy.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members r equired by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's been a long and tiring week for the chamber, and so I thought we might start this MPI with a bit of a game of truth and dare, if those opposite are up for that. So where would we like to start? Would we like truth or dare? It's up to Labor.

Government Member:

A government member interjecting

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Truth it is! The answer to this one is yes or no. Will the Labor Party break its promise of a $275 reduction in household power bills? Yes? No? True? False? Oh, they're silent. Nobody has actually accused the Labor Party of being very truthful, so let's go to the dare. Let's dare any member of the Labor Party to raise their hand if they will guarantee the Australian people that they will deliver on their promise of a $275 reduction in power bills. Any takers? For the Hansard, let it be known that not one Labor MP is prepared to stand by—oh, we have one! We do have one; I apologise. Let the record show that. If I look at the numbers, probably less than 10 per cent of the Labor Party in this House believe that they're going to deliver on their $275 promise.

We heard in question time a lot of questions about the decade that was. We saw the Labor government inheriting government after a decade of delivery on the part of the coalition. We also saw Labor come to office after a decade of dithering in trying to formulate an energy policy. We know that because we just have to look at the results—look at the scoreboard. Our plan to deliver cheaper power prices for households: done, tick, delivered. Our plan to deliver lower power prices for businesses: done, tick, delivered. Our plan to deliver lower prices for industry: done, tick, delivered. For those who don't know the stats on that, power prices in fact came down by eight per cent for households in the last term of the coalition government alone, and it was 10 per cent for businesses and 12 per cent for industry. What we saw from those opposite—what we've seen from Labor—in coming to office was their promise for lower power bills for households. They promised it, they tried and they failed. Lower power bills for businesses: they promised, they tried, they failed. Lower power prices for industry—yes, that's right!—they promised, they tried and they failed.

A part of the reason for this is that they had almost a decade to formulate an energy policy. But as soon as they entered office, they lost control. Within a month, Labor lost control of the energy market. Nobody is suggesting here whatsoever that energy is easy; energy is highly complicated. The war in Ukraine was raging long before last year's election. It is up to the government of the day to manage the situation domestically. The coalition understands that. Labor, though, came to office with a lot of promises. As soon as they were passed the ball they were found flatfooted. They had no idea of what to do. We almost begged them, as the new opposition, by saying, 'Please engage with industry.' But the Minister for Climate Change and Energy refused to engage with industry, believing—as Labor always does—that government knows best, that they know best and that he knows best. Instead of meeting with business, he met with climate activists. He put out media releases and propagated but he did not look for a solution. Meanwhile, the situation got worse and worse. As a result, the Australian people kept paying the price.

Industry, the market operator and the ACCC have all been saying from day one of this new Labor government that the solution is supply—supply, supply, supply. It's a pretty simple formula. For those on the government benches: price is a function of demand and supply. If you restrict supply then it drives prices up. Everybody has been saying this to the Labor government, but they are refusing to listen. We can see that their entire suite of policies are actually aimed at restricting and suffocating supply. Let's look at the three areas of energy generation in Australia at the moment which are the most prominent. Let's look at coal; let's look at our baseload power stations. Since Labor has come to office, we have seen an acceleration in announcements of closures by baseload power station owners. Why? This is directly related to Labor's policy, the 82 per cent renewable target by 2030, signalling to the market that there's no role for baseload power and that within this very decade they're going to have 82 per cent renewables. As a result, we will see 80 per cent of baseload power come out of the grid by 2035. This is a policy decision that Labor made to actually remove coal from the capacity mechanism—in other words, ensuring there's no financial incentive to keep these power stations open and, again, driving an earlier closure of coal and of coal-fired power stations. And they're doing this, with 80 per cent leaving the grid by 2035, without any guarantee whatsoever that there's going to be a system in place. You don't turn one system off without having another system ready to go, but that is the consequence of their policies.

That's coal. Let's now look at gas. All of Australia knows—unfortunately, all of our trading partners know—that this government is trying to suffocate the supply of gas. We know, and we saw it last year, that once you have insufficient reserve margin within the system the market operator will ensure that the lights don't go out. What we saw last year was gas being used but gas being called on. When there's unprecedented market intervention, as happened last year once Labor lost control of the market, we see prices go up. And who pays for that? Consumers—it comes through retail energy bills.

What have they done to try to get more supply of gas into the market? They took that also from the capacity mechanism. They decided that the Kurri Kurri gas plant shouldn't be gas at all, that it must start with at least 30 per cent hydrogen. So Kurri Kurri has now been postponed by at least 12 months. They cut $100 million from the budget for gas exploration and gas pipelines. They cut another $250 million for carbon capture and storage projects. They provided $10 million for green lawfare so that we could have green legal activists go to court to take on gas development projects. They had unprecedented intervention in the market through price caps. They introduced a mandatory code of conduct, which of course sees them steering the direction of the market. They heightened uncertainty in the market through changes to the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism. They introduced a punitive carbon tax, a methane pledge, without doing any modelling and are now looking at increasing the petroleum resource rent tax. In all of this, name me one measure of the Labor government that has led to an increase in the supply of gas? All of these things are direct Labor policies, and the consequence is a restriction of supply and an increase in price.

Let's finish with renewables. Coming after the coalition delivered record investment in renewables and all the talk of those opposite, here is what we have learnt since they have come to office. The Clean Energy Council in a publication, RenewEconomy—hardly a right-wing publication—has revealed that construction of renewables is going well, $1.3 billion, based on the coalition's record of closing deals. But the first quarter of 2023 did not see one new renewable energy generation project closed. Not one reached final closure. This is because of the sovereign risk that Labor has introduced. They're failing even on renewables. So the next time you open your bill, Albo owes it.

Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This MPI is extraordinary. They're raising questions about policies and energy prices. It's extraordinary because (1) they had no energy policies—it was energy policy chaos—and (2) we heard from all the experts and all the economic commentators that our policies—and, yes, Deputy Speaker, we do have policies in this area—actually have been far from inflationary. In fact, they have been helping to manage inflation. Specifically, they do not drive up energy prices. In fact, they have had the opposite impact. It's quite an interesting take from the opposition when even their Treasurer went on national television and couldn't remember which energy policies they had actually supported and opposed. But I'd be happier to discuss our policies which might give them a bit of help when they're going on telly again.

We intervened in the market to ensure that Australians were shielded from the worst of the power price shocks we've seen internationally. We're seeing the benefits of that policy, with power prices being significantly lower than they would have been expected to be without our intervention. Those opposite scoffed; we got on with the job. Let me tell you about another policy, the Energy Price Relief Plan. This is providing targeted energy bill relief and investing in cleaner, cheaper energy for the future. Unlike those opposite, we know that action is needed right now to keep our prices down and deliver the energy system we need for the future. That's why we've partnered with states and territories to shield Australian families and businesses from the worst impacts of the energy price spikes, driven by global events that those opposite simply choose to ignore.

Part of this plan is the $1.5 billion Energy Bill Relief Fund, another policy they might have forgotten about. This targeted and temporary support will provide hundreds of dollars of additional bill relief to eligible Australian families and small businesses. I'm personally delighted that eligible households in my home state will receive an additional $250 off their power bills as a direct result of this policy, making a huge difference to household bottom lines. As a result of the interventions we've made and the subsidies that we are providing, it's projected that families in my home state of Victoria will have an annual power bill that is $555 cheaper than it would have been. That's a real difference to the budget bottom line for households in Victoria, and we know that those savings are replicated right across the country.

Maybe the opposition posed this MPI because they weren't listening when we reinforced our commitment to implement the long overdue Capacity Investment Scheme, a policy that will unlock around $10 billion of private and public sector investment in clean dispatchable storage and generation to ensure reliable and affordable electricity supply and to reduce our exposure to high-cost coal and gas prices over the medium and long term. The opposition might be wondering about our Powering Australia policy. Our government is refusing to be asleep at the wheel, like they were when they were in government. They can deny it all they like, but we know that renewable energy is cheaper energy. They denied and decried it for decades.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In fact, I hear a few of them still denying it right now over there, true to style. But we won't put our heads in the sand like them. We wouldn't do that to the families and businesses in Australia, who deserve cleaner, cheaper energy. Our Powering Australia policy will be key in ensuring we have an energy system that will serve us well into the future. It's about backing Australian workers and creating jobs, cutting power bills and reducing emissions by boosting renewable energy. These are all policies that have a direct impact on the hip pocket of families and businesses.

As part of this vision, the opposition might need to be reminded of our Rewiring the Nation plan, a policy that invests $20 billion to modernise transmission in our power grid, to unlock greater investment in renewables and to enable greater uptake in the National Energy Market. While those opposite were in government we were left with an aging power grid which was acting as a barrier, a literal, physical barrier, to the uptake of renewables. Our government is making sure there's nothing holding us back in going full speed towards our renewable, cheaper, cleaner energy future. We've invested more than $200 million in establishing 400 community batteries across the country, with one in Alphington in my electorate. Again, this policy will unlock households' access to cheaper, cleaner energy.

I would be remiss not to ask if maybe they were thinking of another incredible policy announcement we made this week, the appointment of a chair and advisory board of the Net Zero Economy Agency. What those opposite failed time and time again to recognise is that workers deserve a government that will proactively support them through a transition to a clean energy economy. That's why we established the Net Zero Economy Agency. When I was President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, it was my privilege to speak with workers right across the country. I heard exactly what it was like on the ground. Our government understands that we absolutely cannot talk about easing the cost of living and transitioning to a clean energy future without thinking of the impact on those workers. We will absolutely not leave them behind. If the opposition want to sit there and make ridiculous claims that we don't understand the financial pressure that workers and their families face, I'll simply point them to this policy.

We've done all of this, and there is policy after policy making sure that Australians are coping with the rising cost of living right now. We've unlocked billions of dollars of investment in new energy generation despite the blocking tactics of those opposite. You've heard the moniker of the 'no-alition', Madam Deputy Speaker, and what an accurate descriptor that is. This is an opposition that actually voted against making prices hundreds of dollars lower. It absolutely beggars belief. All those opposite do is say no. We put forward plans to get more energy into the system; they say no. We bring in legislation to cut wholesale power bills; they say no. We intervene in the market to stymie increases to power bills; they say no. In fact, after we intervened in the market to ensure households were protected from the worst of the power price hikes, they didn't just say no; the Leader of the Opposition went much further, saying, 'Just like Reagan, we will wind back government intervention.' Amazing! What an inspirational leader—just what the people of Australia have been crying out for.

This is the Leader of the Opposition who seriously suggested, in his budget reply speech no less, that the solution to power price hikes is nuclear energy. Here we go again—the old nuclear power solution. It's an oldie but a goodie. It's been discredited as too slow, too expensive, potentially dangerous, a white elephant—the list goes on.

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's not working, Ged. Why are you against AUKUS?

Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I guess they needed something to say that would make us, rather than them, say no for a change.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Member for Fairfax, I believe you were heard in silence.

Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I mean, really! While those opposite sit on their hands, we are getting on with the job of delivering energy price relief to Australian households. They can snipe from the sidelines, continue their blocking tactics, continue to say no, but we're not wasting time. We're delivering relief to households who need it. They left a mess for families and businesses to bear through extraordinary times. They failed to invest in renewables. They failed to invest in power generation. Actually, they failed to invest in power transmission, losing us precious time. And they refused to accept not only the science of climate change but also the economic reality of the benefits of renewable energy. Put simply, they failed Australia.

We understand that families are doing it tough. Inflation is the defining economic challenge of 2023, as it was in 2022, and we know Australians are feeling it and seeing it. We are currently dealing with the most significant shock to energy markets in 50 years due to Russia's prolonged attack on Ukraine. Energy prices are forecast to stay high for longer because global energy market disruptions have become more pronounced and are persisting longer. But we are acting. We have a huge suite of policies. After a decade of underinvestment, policy division, grandstanding about the virtue of fossil fuels and the demonising of renewables—after all of that—they dare to come into this place and say our policies are driving up energy prices. It's absolutely absurd. They are the masters of nothing other than a policy vacuum. Unlike those opposite, we have policies. We know that we need to act right now, and we have policies that are keeping prices down and delivering the energy system we need for our future.

Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

EBSTER () (): Today's matter of public importance is about the Albanese Labor government's policies which continue to drive up the price Australian families and businesses pay for energy. That's a fact. Earlier this week, in response to my question about a transmission line proposed for my electorate of Mallee, which I will talk about further in a moment, Minister Bowen would not even look at the 60 farmers who were up in the gallery.

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Cowards.

Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was atrocious. Minister Bowen wanted to talk about fact. The Labor government promised to reduce energy bills by $275—fact. They promised $275 97 times—fact. Within a year, Labor has delivered the highest energy prices on record—fact. Electricity prices will rise by a further 25 per cent for many Australians from 1 July—fact. The increase in the default market offer and the Victorian default offer, which will take effect from 1 July 2023 will ensure over 1½ million households across Australia will be worse off by up to $352 a year in Victoria—fact. Over 400,000 small businesses will see their electricity bills increase to $1,310 a year or more, depending on the business—fact. The minister, the Prime Minister and those opposite will spin, twist and twirl around everyday Australians and their power bills, saying: 'No, that bill isn't higher. Energy is cheaper. The green dream means cheaper electricity. More is less. Up is down. Bad is good.' The VNI West transmission proposal is an example from my own electorate. I am so proud of the farmers in Mallee who came across to Canberra this week, a 1,500km journey, to make the point. Disgracefully, Minister Bowen wouldn't even look them in the eye; he pretended they weren't in the chamber at all. Just like in Labor's Rewiring the Nation plan, Labor ignores that regional Australia exists. Labor considers those who live in regional Australia merely ants to be squashed under foot in order to railroad pylons and transmission lines through their farms, their remnant vegetation, the land significant to Indigenous people. Remember the climate change debate—trust the science, listen to the experts? Remember that? The experts have spoken in the form of professors Bruce Mountain and Simon Bartlett, who summed up the VNI West in two words—a monumental mistake. But federal and state Labor in Victoria will plough on, ignore the experts and the value of lives in regional communities to achieve political aspirations.

What will that monumental mistake actually mean? It will mean higher power prices and higher food prices at the checkout. When you build on a monumental mistake, when you build something expensive and inefficient, guess who pays for it? Australian families and Australian small businesses. Instead of focusing on the needs of Australian families and businesses doing it tough, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy have introduced another carbon tax by changes to the safeguard mechanism, which will make the cost-of-living crisis even worse.

All the while, Australia is looking down the barrel of an energy supply crunch over coming years which could see rolling brownouts and blackouts, which will only see energy prices continue to climb—that old maths, supply and demand. It could have been avoided if the ideological farce of a ban on nuclear energy had not been put in place decades ago. We would be like almost every other OECD and developed economy in the world with our abundant uranium supply. We could have kept power supply open with nuclear. Our carbon emissions profile would have been much lower. But, no, Labor's green dream sees us running head long into a supply crunch and, as I mentioned at the beginning, higher power prices. That's why the motion being considered in the Senate for an inquiry into the transmission grid and our real energy capacity is actually an urgent priority—it failed again today. Those opposite like to talk about heads in the sand. When you pursue blind ideology without social licence, without regard to the consequences, without the facts, your head is buried somewhere in a pretty dark place.

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a note to begin speaking on. I note the opposition come into this place suggesting that this government hasn't done anything on energy, and they have some quite unique and novel solutions for us. I did know that the member for Fairfax was a big proponent for nuclear energy. I had not realised the member for Mallee was a fellow traveller and also a proponent for nuclear energy. Having listened to the member for Mallee explain some concerns in her electorate around renewable energy and the potential for renewable energy, I do wonder if the member for Mallee has consulted with her electorate about how they might feel about a nuclear reactor in the member for Mallee's electorate. I wonder whether she has asked that question and whether the member for Fairfax has thought about where his dream of nuclear energy might be rolled out across Australia?

While the member for Fairfax has been travelling the world, posting videos from Hiroshima about nuclear energy, our government has been getting on with the work of securing our country's energy supply. Our country has been getting on with doing the work that those opposite failed to do for nearly a decade. We have been investing in the supply our country needs for our future. And we know that there are very real cost-of-living pressures on Australians at the moment. Inflation is a global problem. The war in Ukraine has disrupted energy and energy supply across the world. These are real problems that our government has taken seriously and dealt with seriously, as grown-up governments do. We have not been flitting around the world filming videos at Hiroshima. We have not been pretending that our country should have a nuclear industry, an industry that all the experts tell us would be more expensive. In fact, nuclear modular reactors aren't even commercially viable yet. Building this industry in our country just makes absolutely no sense. But do you know what does make sense in our country? Renewables. And do you know what people in this country want our government to deliver? Renewables.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Again, I note that those opposite have been scoffing at our renewable targets and at the fact that our government is trying to do the work to transform our country into a renewable energy superpower, to realise the potential of the future that is there and to make sure that our country benefits from the transformation that is going to happen around the world and that we do not get left behind. Those opposite would have us left behind.

I was in my electorate on the weekend, and I was having a conversation with someone about what's going on about cost-of-living pressures, and do you know what they said to me? They said to me, 'I'm concerned that we're not going fast enough in terms of making sure that we're getting renewables into our grid.' I do understand that concern. We are coming off a very low base, because we had a decade when nothing was done. We had a decade where climate change being a real thing was something you couldn't mention in this place. We had a government that was full of deniers, and it seems the coalition are still full of deniers. Despite the message that the Australian people sent them just over a year ago, they haven't woken up. They still come in here and they still deny that the future of this country is renewable, that renewables will be part of turning this country into a clean energy superpower and that all Australians will benefit from that.

Our government is getting on with that work. We are getting on with the work of making sure that we are doing all we can to provide relief on energy costs, and of course that's work that we did in this parliament late last year. It's work that, again I note, those opposite voted against. They come in here and they grandstand, but when it came to actually acting, when it came to being the adults in the room and dealing with the crises that our country faces, those people opposite failed to do it. They could not vote to provide that relief on energy prices.

We have matter of public importance after matter of public importance on a similar topic from those opposite. I would just ask them to stop and reflect and to think about their actions, about the decade of denial and drift that they left us, about the mess that we are trying to clean up and about how they could work constructively with us to do this work in the best interests of all Australians.

Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Two hundred and seventy-five dollars could help with the groceries for a family, but filling up that trolley costs so much more since Labor's been in. Two hundred and seventy-five dollars could help pay the kids' sports fees. Two hundred and seventy-five dollars is the broken promise of this Labor government to every single Australian. You can't delete that broken promise, because the Prime Minister said it 97 times before the election. The Prime Minister, the Treasurer and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy talk about Russia's disgusting invasion of Ukraine as a excuse for power bill rises, but they forget to mention that they kept committing to a reduction in household energy bills by $275 after the invasion began.

It's not only households which are suffering right now with cost-of-living pressures and energy prices skyrocketing because of this Labor government's failed policies. It's businesses, including small businesses. I asked the Prime Minister a question recently in question time. I said to the Prime Minister:

Zokoko, a local chocolate manufacturer in my Western Sydney electorate of Lindsay, has seen their energy bill rise by $4,000 per quarter. The owner, Dean, says that this budget won't make much of a difference because he's still going to see his energy costs continue to rise.

They're not going to stop at $4,000 more; they're going to continue to rise. And, extraordinarily, the Prime Minister came back and said: 'There is support for small and family businesses to tackle immediate pressures. We have an instant asset write-off'—an instant asset write-off that we set in place at $150,000, which this government has cut to $20,000! How is that helping small businesses? He also went on to say, 'This budget has provided welcome breathing space for households and small businesses in the form of energy relief.' What a joke! Even the Australian Energy Regulator recently said that energy prices will skyrocket. There is no relief when something is skyrocketing—by around 25 per cent for many Australians from 1 July.

This is a kick in the guts for every single family in my community in the electorate of Lindsay in Western Sydney, and, indeed, for the entire country. Households are seeing their earnings evaporate so quickly now, with ever-rising interest rates on their mortgages, food prices rising and fuel costs. The impact of rising energy prices, too, will be further economic hardship, in my community and right across this country. I've had constituents come into my office in tears because they are struggling to pay their bills. Having $275 in their pocket would really make a difference. And they're very aware that this Prime Minister has broken his promise to them. They will not forget. The people of Lindsay do not forget.

This contrasts to what we did when we were in government and power prices reached their lowest level in eight years. In just two years under our government, power prices fell by eight per cent for households, 10 per cent for small businesses and 12 per cent for larger businesses. The previous government did this by putting the interests of energy consumers first and focusing on the delivery of affordable and reliable power. Instead of focusing on the needs of Australian families and businesses doing it tough, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy have introduced yet another carbon tax with their changes to the safeguard mechanism, which will make the cost-of-living crisis even worse.

These increases that we are facing will see households pay increases of between 20.5 per cent and 28.7 per cent, with New South Wales, my home state, increasing by 24.9 per cent. Where are Australians going to find the money to cover these costs? I have people, as I said, crying in my office. They can't afford the prices now. It would be a great question for the Prime Minister to answer: how are they going to get that extra money?

I visit my local manufacturers all the time, and they tell me that they're at threat of closing. One manufacturer told me that their energy bills are up 200 per cent. This means hundreds of local jobs will be lost. When we were in government, we worked so hard to build our local jobs. Having a job close to home and not having to travel out of area is something so important to people in Western Sydney. We will see prices continue to rise under this Albanese Labor government, to the detriment of households and small businesses right across Australia.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's always great to come in and do an MPI, particularly on something as important as household energy prices. The one consistent thing we have from those opposite is that the truth is never coming from their lips. We hear it all the time. We've heard the '$2 ScoMo' and we've heard all the nuclear stuff from Smithers over there about what's going to happen. Never ever do we hear where they want to put nuclear. They just say, 'Oh, we want to do it, but we don't know where.' They'll never name a site. The last time they were in government, you know where they named a site for nuclear power? Puckapunyal Army base—imagine that! It's the only live firing range in Australia, and those opposite wanted to put a nuclear power plant there. Absolute Einsteins! It's so bad that they could never get through a single sentence.

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Why are you against AUKUS?

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

AUKUS is not nuclear powering your home. Are you that far out of your depth, mate? Seriously. What we do know is that we lived through 10 years—

Ho nourable members interjecting—

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Member for McEwen, there's a lot of cross-chamber chat going on. I can't hear you. I'm giving you the call, and I ask others to give you silence.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll just again remind those opposite that AUKUS nuclear powered submarines don't power your house. If you can't figure that out, you probably should wander back up to the back bench where you belong. You almost make your predecessor look intelligent. But I'll say this: when it comes to talking about the $275, they forget the second part: by 2025.

I'll give you a great little reminder of 10 years of neglect, delay and dithering. They had 22 energy policies and couldn't deliver one. This was a government that was in power for 10 years and couldn't deliver a pizza, let alone a simple energy policy. I'll go back to their first Prime Minister in the first part of the mess—a bloke by the name of Tony Abbott. You remember Tony Abbott; you voted for him. He was a champion. He stood up and said in 2013 that they were going to deliver a $550 cut to power prices. That was Tony Abbott. We all remember him—speedos and eating onions. But what did they deliver? He also said in 2014, when he was the minister for women—because they couldn't find a woman to be a minister for women, so they got him to do it, because old Tones is the most sensitive new-age guy you could think of—that cutting household power prices under their failed policy—No. 6, I think it was, on 22 December, so here's a Christmas present for all the women in Australia—would benefit women. He said women would benefit from their $550 power price decrease. But guess what? Like everything else, it was never delivered. Then on 17 August 2015—those over there like to talk about fact checks, so please go and check the date—there's sloppy Joe Hockey standing there with a big 'wrong'—no $550. But you never, ever hear them apologise. You never hear them say: 'Oh, we got it wrong. We made a blue—22 policies and we couldn't deliver anything. All we did was drive prices up.'

So it was left to us, when we came into government, to address this problem, and that's what we've been doing. Every single indicator has shown our intervention in the market is bringing prices down. Wholesale prices have come down, and retail prices have come down. You can even read people like Clare Savage. I know it's probably hard for you to read a full sentence, but she estimated that an increase between 35 and 50 per cent would be the number announced today if the government had not brought things down. It's all about what we're doing. Repowering the nation is about making sure that when power leaves the power station it gets to your house. Investing in clean, green energy is nothing short of just delivering cheaper power—reliable power that is not going to impact on the economy.

We all remember the time when they sat there—the frontbench—all nibbling on a piece of coal because that's all they could think of. They thought it was great fun. They made fun of the workers in the coal industry who are suffering with black lung. They thought it was funny to sit there and say, 'There's nothing wrong with coal.' They forget these things, but memory on our side is very strong. We know what we went through with nine years of mistakes, nine years of failure and nine years of neglect. This government came in with one single thing to do: fix up the mess that was delivered. We know what they did. Angus Taylor, the member for Hume—sorry, the shadowy Treasurer—was the one who deliberately and knowingly hid price rise increases from the Australian public—price rises that were coming, but they hid them until after the election because they didn't want Australians to know how much the price rises were. But we're fixing that mess. We're continuing to fix the mess that they've created, and we're continuing to clean the country.

Colin Boyce (Flynn, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The No. 1 issue I hear when travelling around the electorate of Flynn is how people are struggling with the cost of living, especially families and businesses dealing with the rising cost of energy. Families and businesses are genuinely hurting. There are people who are now at breaking point. I've had many emails and calls from retirees, families and working people who are hurting every time they go to the supermarket, every time they open their electricity bill, every time they get a letter from the bank announcing another interest rate rise and every time they go to the bowser to fill up the family car with petrol. Under this Labor government, this is set to get even worse, and Labor has no plan to ease this burden of the cost of living and the price of energy.

Let's look at the Labor government's truckie tax as an example. In their recent budget they announced a six per cent increase on the heavy vehicle road user charge over a three-year period, which will equate to more than 18 per cent over the three-year period. Everything we have in this country comes on the back of a truck—all of the goods we buy. Everything that travels from a port to a shop, whatever it is, comes on the back of a truck—groceries and wind turbines. Our truckies keep this country going; they get food to our stores and out to our shopping centres. There are more than 197,000 people employed in the industry, and this reckless tax puts drivers' jobs and livelihoods at risk, drives up the cost of living and drives up the cost of energy.

The minister for infrastructure argues that this increased tax gives certainty to the transport industry. The only certainty the transport industry will have is that it will have to increase costs and charges and pass those on to the consumer. How can this possibly help with the cost of living that many Australians are experiencing? This is bad government policy and it only adds to inflation.

On 97 occasions the Prime Minister promised Australians that their electricity bills would go down by $275. Well, where is it? All we've had is our power costs increase—that's it. Power bills at the Emerald grocery store in my electorate of Flynn have increased by 40.77 per cent over the previous 12 months, from $78,313 to $110,224. That's from June 2022 to May 2023. How can they possibly say that energy is getting cheaper? It is not, it is getting more expensive! What is this going to mean? The grocery store at Emerald will increase and pass on their costs to the consumer. This will make everything more expensive. Add that to a predicted 28 per cent increase rise in energy costs and everything will become more expensive.

Let's look at Minister Bowen's energy policy, which is supposed to bring power bills down. The policy involves installing 22,000 solar panels every day between now and 2030, and 40 wind turbines every month between now and 2030, and there is a proposal to build 28,000 kilometres of high-voltage powerlines to connect these renewables to the grid. Mr Bowen says, arrogantly, that renewables are getting cheaper. Well, if renewables get any cheaper nobody is going to be able to afford their electricity bill!

I received the following email from a constituent. It says:

This current Federal Government had spruced election promises of lower electricity prices and that all these installed renewables provide cheaper supply; however, the real-world evidence does not support their claims. As you are in opposition it is your responsibility to hold the government to account at every opportunity. I would ask you pressure this new federal government and the state government on behalf of those small businesses and families who must financially pay for all of this as we are on an unsustainable track.

And that is the truth of the matter.

My question to Mr Bowen is: do you really think these policies are making energy cheaper for Australians? They simply are not. And my question to householders across Queensland is: has your power bill gone up or has it gone down under the Labor government? The facts are that it has been reported that power prices in regional Queensland are expected to increase by 28 per cent. That is a further cost impost on everybody.

Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Once again, here we are in this place dealing with basic misinformation. This matter of public importance, so called, is a basic misattribution, a diversion and an attempt to 'look over here' to try to fool the Australian public. I say to those opposite: you deeply underestimate Australians. Just as they saw through your lies, misinformation and rorts at the last election, Australians know why energy prices have risen. They also note that energy prices had risen under the previous government—under those opposite. Make no mistake, this government is aware of the pressure that rising prices has on Australians, on families and on businesses.

But when we're looking to allocate blame, or looking for the causes of energy price pressures, let's not insult the intelligence of Australians. They remember that the former energy minister, the member for Hume, deliberately hid rising energy costs so that those were not released until after the election. He actually amended the industry code for electricity retailers on 7 April—a really big coincidence—three days before the election was called, and deliberately hid energy prices from Australian voters until after the election. It's really hard to contemplate how anyone thought that was a justifiable and ethical course of action. But those opposite and the truth are strangers when it comes to energy prices. In May 2019, they promised to deliver an average energy wholesale of $70 per megawatt hour by the end of 2021. Instead, by the time of the election in May 2022, the price was $286.18. They promised a decrease of 25 per cent, but they delivered an increase of 240 per cent over three years—and yet they propose this MPI.

Those opposite announced—because they were terribly good at announcements—$1 billion to support 3,800 megawatts of new generation. This was the Underwriting New Generation Investments program, the very attractively named UNGI fund. Of course, they weren't so good at delivery. Not one single dollar was delivered into that. And under their regime, as we've heard, four gigawatts of capacity left the system, but only one gigawatt was put back in—and yet they lecture us on supply.

Getting back to the question at hand: what is the actual cause of price rises in the energy sector? Those opposite know full well that the major cause of energy prices is the illegal war in Ukraine. Why would events on the other side of the world impact us here in Australia? A large part is because our energy market is exposed to international prices. After 22 energy plans under those opposite, none of which landed, you would think we would have an energy market that worked for us Australians.

This is a government that takes this issue seriously, not as a political pointscoring exercise. So, in December last year, when this government recalled parliament to pass urgent legislation to limit energy price rises, those opposite voted against it. As a result of this intervention, the direct market offer increase is 27 points lower than it would have been in my home state of South Australia. We have energy policies, and we have an energy plan. We know, as do the industry experts, as does the rest of the world, that renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy, and, yes, it will take time, but we have a plan to get there—not 22 plans. We have one plan and we're acting on it.

I'm reminded of the saying: 'When is the best time to start something? Ten years ago. When is the second best time? Now.' After a wasted decade, 10 years lost, when we could have been world leaders in energy transition, instead, we are starting now. But those opposite propose nuclear energy as the solution. The most expensive form of energy but also a form of energy that will take about a decade-and-a-half to establish in the country. If you can find 80 places to put 80 small modular reactors, good on you. Again, they did have a decade to do something about this, to build all of these nuclear reactors. How many to do you think they built? None. How many were started? None. How many have a site? None. How many have planning approval or social licence? Zero. Twenty-two energy plans and zero nuclear reactors built. This government has an energy plan. We are implementing it in a very difficult international environment.

Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Fairfax for raising this very important matter of public importance, which is about the government's policies, or lack of policies, on the energy market.

I'll tell you what, I'm pleased you spoke about that. I tell you what, it's not going really well for you, is it? The simple fact of the matter is: power prices are going up. That's exactly what's happening. Power prices are going up. You can talk about it however you want. You can dress it up, you can do whatever you need to do, but power prices are going up. This is on the back of a promise from the Albanese Labor government that they were going to come down by $275. Yes, $275—that's not a slip of the tongue; that's a promise that was mentioned 97 times. We're used to Labor's porky pies. It's nothing new at all. Mortgages are going up; grocery prices are going up. But let me tell everyone in this place that grocery prices will continue to go up, because you've lost control of the energy market. Woolies, Coles—all the major retailers—have to have air conditioning and lights, and that requires energy. That's going to go up.

Government members interjecting—

I appreciate the interjection of '2025'. That is another fantastic thing about this place. I love being in this place, because everything is recorded. Let's focus in on that—'by 2025'. I'll bet a carton of beer and say there's no way in the world that power prices will be cheaper than they are now. And that's simply because of capex. The trajectory that the current government is on, taking us down this renewable energy path at all costs, simply won't work. You have solar, for example. When a generator develops a solar farm, the first thing they do is wipe out all the vegetation there—and we'll talk about that a bit later. Then you put the solar there and it contributes energy to the grid for about eight hours a day—unless clouds come over, and then it's less than that. It's unreliable and it's intermittent.

So then what happens when you can't use that? You need some energy, so you build a big wind tower. How do you do that? You wipe out all the vegetation on top of the hill, and then you put the wind tower up the top. But when the wind doesn't blow there's no energy again, so more capex is sitting there doing nothing.

Then you have to firm it in some way. The only way you can firm it is with gas, but no-one over on that side of the chamber wants to talk about gas or coal—certainly not coal. The Treasurer couldn't even mention coal, which contributes over $100 billion to the economy, in the budget speech. It's: 'Oh, no, we can't mention coal.' You aren't even brave enough to have the conversation about nuclear. You need to at least have the conversation about nuclear.

We have all this steel and all these mystical and magical things happening out in the environment, but, as we talked about, you got rid of all the vegetation. There's this very valuable thing called photosynthesis. Let me, as a farmer, tell you how that works. You start off with a plan, you have all the vegetation, you add some sunlight and some water, and the plants turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. But you've just wiped out all that vegetation to put the solar farm or the wind farm there. It simply does not make sense.

To back it up, we've got the ridiculous Queensland pumped hydro scheme next to Eungella Dam. It is absolutely crazy. To use a pumped hydro system, you need energy to pump the water up. There's no energy there. There's no transmission there. Then you need the transmission lines to go away from that. Again, you will be taking more vegetation out of the system. Here's a spoiler alert for everyone out there: you're going to make power prices much higher if you keep going down this track.

That's why I'm so pleased that you keep talking about how in 2025 we will see that reduction. I will wait for that reduction. I really look forward it to. You can't have transition without transmission. What's going to happen, folks, if we have a cold winter or a really hot summer? There are going to be blackouts everywhere, and we will be holding the Albanese Labor government to account for that.

Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Here we are at the tail end of yet another sitting week and at the tail end of yet another matter of public importance. Variety is the spice of life, and we have had a bit of respite from the MPI on energy prices—I think the last one was 1 June. Those opposite want to come into this place to talk about high energy. We see at the helm what they must believe to be an example of high energy: the member for Fairfax.

We hear the same tired lines from those opposite and see the same tired faces. But when you look at those opposite who are here just to soak in the atmosphere, you can truly see the ennui setting in. It settles like sediment on the spirits of those occupying the benches on that side of the chamber. Many of those opposite served in a government that hated the idea of having an energy policy so much that they rolled a Prime Minister because of it. Some of the newer faces here, much like myself, who were playing along at home when all that was happening, were at least in this place when they voted against the Albanese Labor government's mandate to fix nine years of policy inaction on energy.

Even now, as they lick their wounds after their attempts at blocking legislation in this place—a move by the government that was tailored to provide energy price relief to Australian families—we had the Leader of the Opposition, almost one month ago, pledging to repeal legislation that provides energy price relief. This wasn't a leak from shadow cabinet or a live mic mishap. He fronted up to deliver a keynote speech and was probably very proud of himself. Just like Reagan. He said, 'It is almost refreshing, to a small degree, to see those opposite try to dial back progress in the area of public policy by 40 years, instead of the real good-old days.' I think this really needs to be highlighted.

This is the agenda those opposite have prepared for working families, if allowed to form government again. It's an opposition that went out of its way to be a void on energy policy as a government. It is almost as if it's a game to them, a game that brings back some perverse nostalgia to the high school debating days. This is why we have to respond to the arguments of those opposite in debates like this, so they aren't allowed a free pass at ignoring facts, ignoring the details, ignoring the bigger picture and, indeed, ignoring a lot of the nuances in this policy space.

We cannot expect much sophistication from photocopy talking points that likely include some parts that are several months old. I keep holding on to the hope that the continuation of Russia's illegal war in Ukraine—an illegal war that has seen the most significant shock to world energy markets in 50 years—isn't something the opposition blames the government for, the fact that it continues to this very day. Yet they do. They actually have the gall to argue that—every time they mention the word '$275 election promise', one which refers to an outcome in 2025, from modelling that was conducted in 2021, prior to the event. This illegal war has been responsible for the biggest shock to global energy markets in 50 years.

When those opposite call this a broken promise, frankly, they should look at both a calendar and a mirror. They cannot be that naive to continue to stall basic facts. Those opposite might call it 'lies, damn lies', the statistics or perhaps even the fourth category, which is whatever error of basic maths that caused the member for Hume to come into the chamber and butcher inflation statistics. It sounds bad when you attribute it to the member for Hume but it's even worse when it's attributed to the shadow Treasurer.

The member for Hume comes up a lot in this area. His last dying act as minister before the election was to hide default market offer prices from the Australian people before they voted for a change in government. It was an offer that saw prices go up and up and up. This contrasts with the last 2023 default market offer, one that saw prices 27 per cent lower in my home state of South Australia. I know whose side I would rather be on, a side that has an energy policy more sophisticated than just no, one that brings about targeted cost-of-living relief to families, not one that takes great pride in saying they're going to repeal a policy that brings about energy price relief the very moment they can.

I guess it is true, what they say about conservatives: very little changes—their ideals, approaches to policy, the topics they bring up at MPI time. Maybe next week. But I won't hold my breath.