Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

I invite Senator McKenzie to remain, because I will make some comments about Senator Cormann's determination to enlarge the stick in question time. But, before we get to the reshaping of the big stick according to Senator Cormann, let's just see what Elizabeth Knight in The Canberra Times had to say. The headline was 'Government's big stick energy policy now small twig'. The government has lost its big stick it was threatening to bludgeon energy companies with if they misbehaved on the power pricing. And why did they lose their big stick, which is trying to reappear as a giant stick now? Because the same thing happened to this energy policy as has happened to all the others. They didn't get it sorted out, they didn't get it agreed in the party and the party has basically rioted on them and said, 'The big stick doesn't work for us anymore'.

This is how the big stick policy was eloquently described by the man who I hope will be the next Treasurer of the nation, one of my fellow New South Welsh parliamentarians, Mr Bowen:

This ridiculous policy, this Venezuelan-style intervention, this intervention in the economy which would chill investment, has collapsed under its own weight.

It was poor policy and has been shown to be poor policy. The Treasurer and the energy minister have been humiliated by their own Liberal backbench. That's what happened to the big stick: it got shaved down to size. And, as much as Senator Cormann might come in here and declare that it's an enormous stick, I put it to you that, in fact, it's a splinter. It's a splinter that has come off their big stick. It's fallen apart. It's rested itself in the heart of the Liberal Party. It's another splinter not only in the sense of being yet another division between the members of this chaotic government; it is a festering sore, a self-inflicted wound—yet another one on energy policy, which this government is unable to manage in any shape or form—that is now lodged with a piece of the wood that didn't work from their big stick. They are going to have a very, very big problem with removing it before the next election.

We know that last week the government was delivering an energy policy in one shape or form. Today they tried to convey that the changes that were forced upon the energy minister and the Prime Minister by the backbench in their party room were refinements. What we saw, in fact, was that there was no refining. It was another about-face that was required because they simply don't know what they're doing. In fact, all the serious commentary about this very serious matter indicates that investment into energy in this country is fragile and very vulnerable right now because of the ongoing failure of this government to act with integrity.

There is a lack of policy vision and a lack of adequate consultation, and yet they have the temerity to come into this place and pretend, continuing to repeat platitudes to the Australian people. They make comments such as, 'We really care about the price of electricity'. They've had five years to care, and in the course of those five years that they've been here every one of us who opens an electricity bill knows that the price of electricity has gone through the roof. It's because of their constantly failing iterations of energy policy. I find it hard to describe what they do even as 'policy'. They have 'energy statements' or 'energy intents' but certainly not anything powerful that's driving down the cost of energy. I just remind Australians that we're still waiting for the $550 that they promised us all a couple of elections ago when they were going to sort out energy policy then. This government cannot be trusted on energy policy any day. (Time expired)