Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to make a contribution in this debate. This is about Australia's energy crisis, the impact it has on consumers, on businesses and on the broader economy, and the need to urgently respond. But unlike those on the government benches, who do not seem to know which way is up, Labor is committed to finding a solution to this energy crisis—a crisis that has engulfed this country under the leadership of the Turnbull government.

People across the country have been waiting to hear about this all week—that is, whether or not the government will step up and take serious action to deal with the energy crisis that is gripping the nation. Under Mr Turnbull power prices, as we know, have gone up, pollution is up, but jobs are down. The electricity policy paralysis of this government has led to this energy crisis. We need a plan for cheaper, cleaner and more secure power, and that means more renewables.

The Finkel review, which I will touch on shortly, has made it clear that the best way forward to deliver cheaper, cleaner and more secure power is through renewable energies, and I know that my colleague opposite, Senator Duniam, would concur that Tasmania has in fact led the country for decades in renewable energies. But what we also have to comment on here tonight is that we have a Prime Minister who promised so much to the Australian community when it came to climate change, who promised so much when it came to innovation, but who has failed to deliver on each area of this policy—and we are not even going to talk about the budget failures at the moment. We had a weakened Prime Minister even before this debate was before us. What we have seen this week, yet again, is a government in crisis. It just does not have any clear direction of where it wants to go. We know that it is not Mr Turnbull who is running the agenda. We know that his predecessor, Mr Abbott, takes every opportunity he can to try to 'help' the Prime Minister—he does that every day—and so what we see is a government with ministers who do not know which way to go.

This government promised at the last election that it was going to be a government about jobs. It failed on that account. They have failed to provide a united and a mature adult government, because quite clearly they are acting like children at the moment. They are divided on so many fronts; it is absolute chaos. I was asked out at the doors this morning: 'What happened at the ball last night? What was the gossip going around the room?' I said, 'I wasn't even at the ball, but I can tell you it isn't gossip that's going around at a function there last night.' This is what people out on the everyday streets in my hometown of Launceston, around Tasmania and around the east corridor know: this is a government that they thought was going to deliver so much under Mr Turnbull, but he is not the Prime Minister that they voted for. He is not in control of his own government. He is in chaos. There is no unity of purpose there. We have different groups. We have Mr Abbott coming out at every opportunity to try to assist the new Prime Minister to keep him on track. There is one thing the people do know, and this is not gossip. This is the reality: this government, led by Mr Turnbull, has been a government that has done nothing about ensuring equality in our community across the board.

There is so much happening through this area of policy, on energy alone. We talk about the impact it has on people—on families, on older Australians and on pensioners. They are the people Senator Bernardi actually referred to, and I agree with him. What we find is that Australian pensioners and those who are on fixed incomes are finding it increasingly difficult to be able to meet their budgets when it comes to electricity. I do not know how many times I have heard from people in my home state about the fact that they can no longer afford to put the heater on at night. These older Tasmanians who have worked hard all their lives can no longer afford to pay their bills, so what do they do? They go to bed and turn on their electric blanket because it is cheaper and more cost effective to run their electric blanket than to heat their lounge room. That is the reality of it. This government has done nothing but add to that with their unfair budgets.

The Prime Minister keeps trying to tell us that the only reason the wholesale power prices are going up is because of gas prices. Let's be very clear: power prices are going up because of the policy paralysis of this government and the uncertainty under the leadership of Mr Turnbull. The Liberals can try to spin it any way they like, but the reality is that under this government for the last four years the power prices have continued to rise. I know my good colleague from the other side will come up when he speaks after me and put his own spin on these things, but the reality is that this government is so out of touch in understanding what is happening in the Australian community.

On top of this, what we know is that in 17 days the government are going to bring about even further hardship to people in this country. Some 40,000 Tasmanians are going to be worse off because the government have been a part of taking away their penalty rates. They could have stopped that. Again this week they voted against Labor's legislation to protect penalty rates for some of the lowest-paid members of our community who do the jobs that look after us if we want to have lunch on a Sunday or if we want to go out on a public holiday. They are the people who are away from their families. They are doing the things that people expect them to do when they go to a restaurant, a hospitality—whatever the circumstances—or hairdressers or pharmacies. But these people in government are so out of touch that they do not care. They do not care at all.

We know the real effect of their budget and what they want to do via the government's attempt to remove the energy supplement from the most vulnerable Australians, a cut that will rip $550 from the pockets of pensioner couples in this country and $229 from a single Newstart recipient struggling with inadequate payments already. So that is 1.7 million people that are going to be affected. This is a cruel cut, so we will keep opposing that and we will always oppose that. It is quite obvious that over the last four years the increases in power prices and the terrible, unfair budgets that the Turnbull government and the Abbott government have delivered to this country have made it harder for everyday Australians. If you believe some of the gossip around this place—even from my good friend Senator Abetz yesterday; there might be a second coming, obviously, when Mr Abbott comes back and takes over the leadership again—we will see more of that in their budgets.

But the Liberals want us to believe that repealing the carbon tax was the key to guaranteeing low electricity prices for everyday Australians and that somehow the energy supplement is redundant. Actually, the wholesale energy prices have doubled under the Abbott-Turnbull governments. It may not seem like much for many who sit in this chamber, and particularly the Prime Minister, but $14.10 a fortnight is a lot of money when you are already living on a very meagre income. That money is crucial to those people who are trying to meet their budgets for just essential items. It is so evident that Mr Turnbull, who promised so much, has let down even Liberal supporters, but this government does not understand anything when it comes to fairness—nothing at all.

I want to turn to the Finkel report. Without reform, we will be forced to endure, as I said, higher prices, reduced security, lost investment opportunities and stubbornly high emissions. We need a careful considered review of the decisions that we need to make to lead to the return of a stable investment environment, affordable prices and reliable supply. The Business Council and other businesses and environmental groups sent a very clear message to the government last week: to give full and fair—there is that word 'fair' again; the problem is they do not understand what fair means—consideration to the Finkel report. We, on this side, are committed—Labor is committed—to giving that full and fair consideration. We have welcomed the release of the Finkel review, and we are clearly looking at the recommendations of the report. We are taking it very seriously. Unlike the Liberals, Labor is committed to finding a solution to the energy crisis that has engulfed this country under the leadership of the Turnbull-Abbott—maybe Abbott again—government. This is why we took a detailed energy policy to the last election.

I want to go back to what we have done in Tasmania for decades that no-one, not even those cynical people on the other side of the chamber that laugh with their interjections—Senator Duniam understands, because he is a Tasmanian and he understands; he is very proud, as I and my colleagues are on this side of the chamber. Tasmania has been very innovative when it comes to hydro—world leaders, international and national leaders. We have led the way, and it has been successful for our communities. But there is still more to do. We have wind energy. We have wave energy. There are so many other opportunities for us to look at. We have solar energy. I fundamentally believe that solar energy is fantastic for our community, and more and more people will take it up. The only difficulty that we have in Tasmania is that the rebate has been reduced, which is making it harder for some Tasmanians to be able to make that investment. We should be encouraging people to invest in solar. It is going to be better for our communities and better for our family budgets. It is better for the environment, and it is something that is good for us as individuals and as families.

As I said, it all comes back to a government who are so busy having their own internal crises that they have not been able to give due consideration, careful and fair consideration, to this report, so we are waiting, as are the community, to hear what direction this government is going in. I would have to say that there are a lot of people that are concerned about the coal industry. Coal—that is, the industries and the mines that we have now—obviously will always have to be taken into consideration. It is also part of our economy and important in terms of the benefits that it provides to communities, jobs, the economy et cetera. But it is very clear from my reading of this report that we really ought not to be moving into opening up any further new mines.

As I said, this comes down to the leadership of this government. I know that Labor will continue to push to consider the recommendations and work forward in the interests of resolving this energy crisis, giving some certainty and security, and doing something about ensuring that people can afford to heat their homes so that older Australians, older Tasmanians and those on fixed incomes do not have to resort to turning off the heater, going to bed and running their electric blankets.