Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

The government has engaged in a campaign to ensure that households have a range of options they can look to to reduce their energy usage. That is a sensible thing to do. Regardless of what your views might or might not be on climate change, one would have thought it was sensible to give households information, should they require it, so they can choose the best options for them to reduce their use of energy, thereby ensuring that they can reduce their electricity costs from what they might otherwise have been and save money. I remind Senator Scullion that support for that sort of system was bipartisan in the context of the renew­able energy target discussions. I remind him that his party—and certainly Mr Hunt, with whom he might not agree—has previously indicated a great deal of support for the solar industry and so, if the senator is suggesting that somehow the opposition no longer is supportive of solar, perhaps he could indicate what the change in opposition policy is.

The approach we have taken in relation to climate change has been to lay out a comprehensive plan that puts a price on carbon as the most economically efficient way to move to a clean energy future, that invests in renewables and also ensures households have the information they need to make changes to their energy consumption if they so wish. I also remind Senator Scullion of this fact: his party shares the position of the government in terms of the reduction by 2020 of five per cent. The difference is, its plan costs more and it will cost Australian taxpayers more.