Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'll choose them very carefully, Mr Acting Deputy President. It was certainly not my intention—there's a high level of sensitivity over there. When I talk about 'whose interests', I don't mean whose pecuniary interests. I mean: is it in interests of jobs in North Queensland? Is it in the interests of lower power prices in Queensland? Is it in the interests of driving investment because of lower energy prices? It certainly isn't. It delivers nothing. What it does do is contribute to what Mr Buckley, the energy expert at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, called 'energy policy chaos on steroids'. That's what this is all about. More chaos, no energy plan, more disruption, more ideological fixations, and no focus on the practical things that are required to have a cogent energy plan that deals with the big challenges that Australia faces. I'll leave it there.