Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to address the radioactive rhetoric by the Liberals and Nationals, because, after nearly 10 years in government and almost 70 years since they first raised it in parliament, the Liberals and Nats now think that nuclear is the answer to the nation's complex energy transition. And they are not satisfied with just pushing this fantasy. We have since seen the Leader of the Opposition shamefully attack our nation's scientists in pursuit of his latest cooked policy. CSIRO's GenCost report, which outed nuclear as the most expensive form of power, was based on science and fact and things that exist, and it was attacked. Then, when CSIRO rejected the Leader of the Opposition's toxicity and called for calm, what did he do? He attacked them again.

So let's call a spade a spade. Their cooker-style, antiscience rhetoric is dangerous and desperate. Everyone in this place wants Australians to pay less for power. Yet, in their warped reality, the Liberals think that the best way to get power bills down is by investing in the most expensive form of power, destined to put prices up.

At the last election, Aussies elected Labor to back in renewables, and we had evidence this week that our plan is working. The lower wholesale power prices go, the better it will be for retail power prices.

So, with our cost-of-living tax cuts and record investments in renewable energy, Labor wants Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn.