Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to take note of the Attorney-General's answer this afternoon. I start by heartily congratulating both the Prime Minister and our outstanding Minister for the Environment and Energy, Josh Frydenberg. They have done an extraordinary job with this policy. It is absolutely based on science and expertise. I also congratulate the Energy Security Board for their advice on this matter. What gives me great heart is knowing that we're going in the right direction. The first person who came out, probably before even reading the document, was the Leader of the Greens. When he's almost frothing at the mouth and having a heart attack about a policy, then you know you're going in the right direction. It also seems to have caught those opposite flat-footed. Instead of arguing against any of the measures that the government has announced, they're already trying to drill into the detail. They fail to acknowledge that a policy is only a piece of paper. So many policies of those opposite have been broken and never implemented. What this is is a very clear plan for reform of the energy market.

What makes me so proud of this document and to be sitting on this side of the chamber as part of a government that's initiating this plan, is that it is affordable and reliable and still meets an emissions guarantee. I am so proud that this is all based on what Australians need. The average Australian wants, demands and expects in the 21st century that they can have reliable and affordable power. Needless to say, their employers, or prospective employers, will actually be able to afford to operate here, to manufacture, to keep the lights on and to keep their plants and machinery operating. Again I say how proud I am of this government.

The details will be worked out and, in fact, are being worked out. Any good policy needs at the start to have very clear objectives and outcomes: things about which you can nail your colours to the mast and say, 'This is what we are going to achieve.' It is wonderful. What I particularly love about this is that it embraces new technologies. It implements new technologies that are based on science, and not some extreme green theology. Also, what is very sensible about this is that it is based on dispatchable power. Guess what? As great as they are, things such as solar and wind are variable. When the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow, the consequences are devastating, as South Australia has seen. The focus on using the best technologies we have to provide and guarantee dispatchable power when every Australian needs it at an affordable cost is critically important. We're doing this all without a clean energy target and with no extension of the RET. It is absolutely fabulous. It is completely focused on this country and not some ideological theology that would see us back in the dark ages where we can't even turn the lights on, as South Australia has seen, and with absolutely scant or no regard at all to the economy and to jobs.

We have a plan. It now has to be worked through COAG, but we have a plan that is good for all Australians because it provides affordable and reliable electricity and provides an emissions guarantee so we can still meet our emissions targets. We're doing it based on science and on what Australians need and are still meeting our targets. We're also still transitioning, over time and in a sensible way, to renewable technologies. We have a plan. I hope those opposite come on board, but today I've heard there is no alternative. In the absence of those opposite not having an alternative at all for this policy, I really hope that, in the national interest, they do come on board with this policy and work with the government and the state Labor leaders, to encourage them to come on board, because this is in the interest of every single Australian.