Elizabeth Watson-Brown (Ryan, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The LNP are peddling a fantasy with their nuclear plan—a fantasy that, somehow, the most expensive form of power generation can bring down energy bills. That's how desperate they are to undermine cheap, clean renewables. Meanwhile, Labor loves that this debate is dominating the headlines because it conveniently distracts from their continuing approval of new coal and gas projects during a climate crisis. Both major parties are committed to their donors in the fossil fuel industry, donors who continue to export billions of dollars worth of coal and gas rake in massive profits, which they also export, while paying next to no tax into the Australian economy.

At the end of the day, it's everyday Australians who suffer. They suffer higher power bills as the cheapest form of power—that's wind and solar, even accounting for the costs of transmission—are delayed for more expensive gas which is vulnerable to global price shocks. They suffer from price-gouging private energy companies exploiting those global price shocks. And, ultimately, they suffer from the effects of climate change made worse by the major parties united commitment to fossil fuels—heat waves that will kill thousands in our cities, more climate disasters that result in price shocks on essentials, higher insurance premiums and, yes, higher power bills too.