George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I just told you that the share of renewables in the Australian energy mix under the policy the government has announced on the advice of the Energy Security Board will grow, and grow significantly. Nobody has doubted for a moment that renewables will be an increasing share of the energy mix. That's not the point, because what you have put to me is a given, agreed to by almost everyone. The point is how to arrange the mix, how to manage this transition in a way that makes energy supply secure and makes housing most affordable. If you are theological about this, like the South Australian government was, and demand that 50 per cent of the energy mix be based upon renewables—in particular, intermittent power—then what you end up with is the kind of policy catastrophe that saw the entire state of South Australia blacked out because of poor policy and poor planning. (Time expired)