Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

That is a great segue from the question we just heard, where we had Senator Carr wanting to defend the industrialisation of Australia and wanting to defend jobs in Australia but, at the same time, being part of a party who, in their own climate action policy last year at the election, said they wanted to kickstart the closure of coal-fired power stations. And didn't the Labor Party get their wish!

In the last year we have seen two major coal-fired power stations close, cheered along by the Labor Party. 'How fast can we make these go?' was their view. 'Let's close them sooner, faster, more often.' Both of them have closed, and we have seen, in South Australia, a massive cost to the economy, with a statewide blackout, where a South Australian Labor government refused the price of $25 million to keep Northern Power Station going. Instead, it is now spending more than $500 million in response to their statewide blackout, including buying diesel generators to use over the summer to keep the lights on. It is absolutely absurd!

Likewise with the closure of Hazelwood. We have seen it put pressure on prices—that was the advice of the Australian Energy Market Operator—but we have seen that closure cheered on by the Victorian Labor government as well. They wanted that to close, and they got their wish as well. On this side, we are not embarrassed to stand behind the need for baseload, reliable power in our system. That does rely on using the natural resources that we have been given in this country, including coal and gas—resources that have powered this country for decades, for hundreds of years, and provided thousands of jobs to hardworking Australians. These are industries that we do want to support and keep going. That is why we are not shy about backing the use of our natural resources in this country to create wealth and keep power prices down for the users of power in households across Australia.