Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Attorney-General (Senator.Brandis) to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today relating to the final report of the Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market

Today, Senator Brandis told us how informed the party room discussion was yesterday—over five hours of debate. I have the slides from that meeting—the Finkel review into the future security of the National Electricity Market. It is apparent that Minister Frydenberg did provide quite substantial advice to the party room about the directions in which the government was hoping to go. It is a pity that the Attorney-General did not pay any attention to what those slides said or the advice that was tendered. When he was asked simple questions about the modelling that underpins the proposals that Dr Finkel has put forward, he was not able to come anywhere near answering a question. He is not interested in the slightest in the underlying assumptions of the government's program, which the government says is of critical importance to the future directions of the energy system in this country.

The Labor Party have offered to work with the government because we understand how critical this is, given the failure of our political system to come to terms with the critical issues about the future of our energy system. What we have seen, of course, in the last day is that the government cannot even work within itself, let alone work across this parliament. It is not able to come to terms with its own backbench about these fundamental questions, despite the extraordinary advice that has been tendered. What we do know is that the modelling that was provided and released last night demonstrates the shambolic mess of the energy policy that has been advanced by those within the government who want to, in effect, stand against the realities of time and the whole notion of climate change and pretend that none of these developments are actually occurring within the world.

Mr Abbott, in particular, is reported to have suggested that the clean energy target that has been proposed by Dr Finkel is a new tax on coal. Of course, it would be an entire farce if he had looked at any of the details. The Jacobs Group modelling, which underpins the report that the government itself released last night, shows that the business-as-usual proposition—of course, this government and, clearly, Senator Brandis demonstrate that the prime policy is do nothing, and the reality is that the hard Right of the Liberal Party takes the view that we do nothing—would actually undermine more quickly the question of the future of coal in this country. Under that model, the propositions that have been advanced by Dr Finkel are that there would be less electricity generated through coal by doing nothing than by advancing the position that has been put forward by Dr Finkel's review. The clean energy target suggests that we are able to provide a model whereby we could extend the life of baseload power generation in this country in a more rational way to see a more reasoned and careful reduction in the use of coal throughout the economy—an approach that would actually provide far greater protection for the security of this country, the security of the living standards of working people and the security of industry in a manner that would deliver the reliability of supplies to businesses and households and would produce, in my judgement, a better economic outcome for the country.

But what has been said over there? There is a refusal to engage on an important principle that does require a bipartisan approach across this parliament from a government that is not even able to get agreement within its own party room about such fundamental principles. What we are seeing, of course, is that the knuckle draggers that have dominated this Prime Minister and forced him to turn his back on what have been his lifelong commitments on these issues are now seeking to dominate once again. The cost to the country from the bitterness and power games that are being played out is quite extraordinary and profound. It is important for the whole country to understand what is at stake and the fates that we are dealing with in terms of a proper approach to policy that meets the requirements of this country and would allow this parliament to move past the policy paralysis that has so completely undermined the capacity to attract new technologies and investments in the future of energy generation in this country. It is appalling to see the level of disquiet that has developed within this government because of the failure of their people, and the Liberal Party in particular, to face up to the realities of climate change and the real economic needs of this country. (Time expired)