Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak today on the matter of public importance. Wage growth is at its weakest. Full-time work is dropping and casualisation is growing. The outlook for Australian workers is bleak. In a deregulated world and a free trade economic environment, if we are to create national wealth and protect Australian workers' wages, the only solution is for our governments to deliver the cheapest electricity and power in the world to our pensioners, families, industries and entrepreneurs. As long as our focus is on renewable energy targets we will never have well-paid work, because a focus on renewable energy targets drives up electricity prices. The only target we should have is the cheapest electricity in the world, creating an attractive environment for investment.

This was championed by Dr Thomas Barlow, an Australian research strategist, specialising in science and technological innovation. He authored a critically acclaimed book called Between the Eagle and the Dragon: Who is Winning the Innovation Race? Dr Barlow reminds us: 'At the moment the US is having an energy revolution. They have cheap energy. The cost of natural gas in the US is about a third of what it was in 2008. And as a consequence we see manufacturing flow back to the US.'

Dr Barlow also reminds us that cheap power and relatively high wages during the industrial revolution caused a perfect financial and social mix, which gave entrepreneurs the incentive to develop new technology and machinery to replace manual labour. This enterprise generated massive national wealth and technological advancement and allowed Great Britain to stay great for hundreds of years.

With a national gas reserve policy, Australia can use the same formula for national wealth and prosperity. Furthermore, considering that we have 30 per cent of the world's uranium in our own country, I do not know why we are not talking about nuclear energy.