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

I move:

That this House notes that:

(1) every Australian deserves and should expect access to cheaper, cleaner and consistent electricity, 24 hours a day, seven days a week;

(2) the Government has broken its promise to reduce household energy bills by $275, with households instead paying some of the world's most expensive energy bills;

(3) in the past two years power bills have increased by up to $1,000 more than the Government promised;

(4) the Australian Energy Market Operator has issued dire warnings about the state of Australia's gas market due to a lack of supply;

(5) 90 per cent of Australia's baseload energy will exit the grid by 2034 under this Government;

(6) baseload power stations should not be closed prematurely with no replacement ready to go;

(7) the Government is steamrolling regional communities in a desperate attempt to fulfill its all-eggs-in-one-basket 'renewables only' approach to meet its unachievable 82 per cent renewables target; and

(8) the Opposition believes in a balanced energy mix including renewables, gas and as coal exits the grid, it should be replaced with zero-emissions nuclear energy.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder?

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

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

The Albanese Labor government promised Australians a $275 reduction on their household power bills, and yet this year we will see Australian families paying far more—in some cases, up to $1,000 more—than what Labor had promised. Under Labor's 'all eggs in one basket' approach to Australia's electricity system, prices will soar and the lights will go out. Australians will be poorer, and as a nation we will be weaker.

Under Labor's plan, Australia will see 90 per cent of its 24/7 base-load power stations close. Australia is turning off one system before having another ready to go. The closure of 90 per cent of our 24/7 base-load power will happen over the next 10 years, amidst a period where Labor is also suffocating the supply of gas. As for its renewables rollout, well, it has stalled. Labor came to office with grand plans of 82 per cent renewables on the grid and up to 98 per cent by 2050, predominantly wind and solar. But there is not a market analyst and there is not an energy expert in the country who says Labor is on track to achieve these targets. In order for it to achieve its 2030 target it needs to install seven gigawatts of renewables on the grid every single year. The financial close of deals last year under Labor was only 1.3 gigawatts. So they are forcing the premature closure of base-load power stations, they are suffocating the supply of gas and they've stalled their renewables rollout, which is why we see prices soar and the market operator saying that right now, this winter, we could run out of gas, and come summer we're looking at, potentially, blackouts. That was the market operator's warning.

This again comes back to an ideological approach of this Albanese Labor government, taking us down a pathway that no other nation on the planet dares to even contemplate. There is not one country in the world which is seeking to transform its electricity grid into a wind and solar grid, almost entirely weather dependent. Australia is isolated, and it's the Australian people and the Australian businesses who are paying the price. Still to this day, despite being in office for two years, the Labor government cannot tell the Australian people the total system cost of its plan. But the Australian people know, because they are opening up their power bills and they know that they are paying the highest electricity prices they ever have. Australians today are paying among the highest prices for electricity in the world, and, of course, there are threats that the lights will go out.

The coalition's approach is very different from Labor's. The coalition believes in a balanced energy mix. The coalition has a plan to deliver cheap, clean and consistent 24/7 electricity. Today, there is a degree of balance still in the system, despite Labor's efforts. Our grid today is made up of renewables, gas and coal. By the time we reach a net zero electricity grid in 2050, under the coalition we will have a balanced energy mix in that grid. We will have renewables, we will have gas and we will have zero-emissions nuclear energy.

We don't believe in the premature closure of base-load power stations. But, as coal retires from the system, it needs to be replaced with a clean energy source that can provide that 24/7 base-load power. If we look around the world, our peers are all moving towards the embrace of zero-emissions nuclear energy, and so too should we.

Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I feel like the member for Fairfax is living in a parallel universe. His eight-point motion reads like an assignment handed in late by an eight-year-old who could do better. The premises he uses—being references to cost, cleanliness, consistency, supply and a variety of sources—do not actually support his conclusion. The motion is a distraction in search of a justification, and the only credit I can give the member for Fairfax is that he is at least consistent. He's been barracking for nuclear in this place since at least 2017.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 12:13 to 12:19

There is, however, more than a little dissonance in his position in that he appears to admit the need to reduce emissions, then complains that renewables are too expensive compared to fossil fuels and then clings to nuclear when all the experts say it is costlier than firmed renewables. The member for Fairfax says nuclear power needs to be part of the mix. Liberal spokespeople have been saying that in opposition for the last 30 years—not so much in government though. In government they did nothing, betraying their real motives in this space.

In any event, the evidence and the experts don't agree. The CSIRO and AEMO have found that the cost of nuclear would be at least four times the cost of firmed renewables. The coalition policy would see Australians paying much higher energy prices. Even the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, has counselled the opposition to ditch their nuclear plans and prioritise, as our government has, Australia's untapped potential in solar and wind. The Economist magazine recently predicted that solar will in fact be the biggest source of electricity on the planet by the mid-2030s. So there really is no basis for the claims of the member for Fairfax. Sometime in the future, he and the member for Dickson will either have to untether themselves from the nuclear disaster of a policy that they cling to or go down with it.

I now want to turn to this basket of eggs that the member for Fairfax refers to in his motion. It's alright to use an analogy, of course, but only if the analogy actually stacks up—and it doesn't stack up. The eggs of the member from Fairfax are speckled eggs indeed! Renewables aren't all eggs in a basket. They are all different things and in different baskets. Wind power is not solar. Solar is not hydro. Hydro isn't geothermal. Geothermal isn't wave power. And then we have storage methods. We can call them batteries, but there are different kinds. Lithium isn't sodium, isn't vanadium, isn't gravity. There are different ways of using gravity. And we know we will need gas for some time yet in the transition in order to firm up renewables. Over time, we'll be able to replace much of that gas with hydrogen. Hydrogen can and will be produced with renewables. In Western Australia, the forecast is that by 2042 gas will be just four per cent as a consequence of the investments that we're making today to create a renewable future for our state.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 12:22 to 12:33

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.