Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann) and the Minister for Education and Training (Senator Birmingham) to questions without notice asked by Senators McAllister and Cameron today relating to energy policy.

Those listening to question time today will have heard a couple of excellent questions, if I do say so myself, asked by senators McAllister and Cameron regarding the shambles that is the government's energy policy. It's worth remembering that everyone I spoke to as I came down to Canberra this week talked about the fact that it was going to a big week in Canberra, and that finally we might see some movement forward from the government in relation to energy policy—one of the running sores of this government for its entire two terms in office.

It's worth reflecting on the fact that under, first, the Abbott government and, now, the Turnbull government, we have seen five years of chaos when it comes to energy policy in Australia. One of the first things the government did when they were elected in 2013 was scrap the former Labor government's emissions trading scheme—its arrangements to try to bring down emissions, increase electricity reliability and keep power prices down. They were so ideologically driven on their election that they got rid of that system without having anything whatsoever to replace it. It is no surprise therefore that the result has been that Australia's emissions have continued to go up and that households and businesses have literally paid the price with wholesale prices for electricity doubling over the last five years under this government.

One of the reasons that this government has been so incapable of actually coming to a resolution on energy policy, to put in place some certainty for everyone involved in the electricity industry, whether it be generators, retailers or households and businesses who actually have to pay their power bills, is the absolute ongoing disunity that has characterised this government. It's hard to think of a better example of that than energy policy. From day one, this government has been tearing itself apart about what it thought about energy policy. Did it want to support coal? Did it want to support renewables? Did it want to bring emissions down? Did it want to have emissions up? Did it want to do anything about power prices? Did it even believe in climate change? We still are aware there are many members of the coalition who still don't even accept climate change is a fact, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that proves that it is.

This disunity over energy policy has spilled into Canberra again this week, with the two former leaders of the coalition, Mr Abbott and Mr Joyce, both threatening to cross the floor to stop this package from going forward. And even today, reports have already surfaced out of the coalition party room that there are up to 10 members of the coalition, including Senator Abetz, who are seriously considering crossing the floor. That might mean he takes some of his Tasmanian senators with him; we'll have to wait and see what they do as well.

One of the tragedies here is that ordinary Australians are paying higher prices for this ongoing disunity within the coalition on energy policy and we are still not solving the very real climate change issues we're facing. There has understandably been a lot of focus in the Australian community over the last couple of weeks on the terrible drought that so many parts of Australia are experiencing at the moment. We are all quite rightly wanting to pitch in to make sure people living on the land and experiencing drought are getting the support they need. The big problem is that if we don't take action on energy policy and climate change, droughts are going to become much more regular, not to mention the cyclones and flooding that we see so often in my own home state of Queensland.

One of the worst aspects of this package now being brought forward by the government is that it is based on a lie—that is, that this government has now wheeled out, in an attempt to pacify the hard right, a Mickey Mouse scheme to prop up coal-fired power into the future. We know for a fact that there is not one electricity generating company in this country that is seriously considering building a new coal-fired power station. There is a whole other issue about preserving and maintaining our existing coal-fired powered stations but there is not one serious proposal on the books where any generator wants to build a new coal-fired power station, and that is because it is becoming increasingly clear the most reliable, cheapest way to supply power is through renewables. The tragedy of this government's package is that, in trying to pacify its hard right, it not only misleads people living in coal communities but it is going to drive prices up further. (Time expired)