Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

Indeed I did ask questions, Senator Brandis, around investment in renewables and around investment in jobs—because we rely very much on analysis such as that done by Ernst & Young, which said Labor's 50 per cent renewable target will create 28,000 jobs, whereas Prime Minister Turnbull has turned his back on renewables and therefore turned his back on thousands of new renewable energy jobs.

So not only are we losing out on jobs, we're also losing out on the savings that this government continues to rely on because of what I have just alluded to in the Senate and made clear in the Senate—that the Australian Energy Market Commission's chair, John Pierce, has made it very clear that there are different modelling scenarios and, under one scenario, the savings for families will be just $25 a year in 2020. What a great policy this is that this government is trying to hoodwink the Australian people with! Well, the only one who is buying this policy, the only one who's probably cracking open the champagne right now, is former Prime Minister Tony Abbott—because, let's face it, he is the one who's still really running this country. He is the one that Malcolm Turnbull continues to capitulate to. He is the one, along with the other hard-right members in the coalition, who this government has completely sold out to. Senator Brandis, you should be ashamed and embarrassed because I know you're not one of those hard-right members of the coalition. But, in doing nothing and in going along with them, you certainly have sold yourself out, as has the Prime Minister. But you didn't only sell out what's important for Australia—to be a leader in energy and renewable energy, to have the right energy mix for the country; you also hoodwinked Australians in the process. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.