Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of all answers provided by the government today to questions without notice from the opposition

We have heard here today a number of issues canvassed which go to some of the major issues facing this government at this point in time. I want to speak directly in relation to, firstly, forecast gas shortfalls. The Australian Energy Market Operator, AEMO, is responsible for managing the electricity and gas systems across the whole of Australia. They are an absolutely integral part of making sure that all the businesses and retail customers and consumers, both business and personal, across Australia, get the electricity and gas they need to operate their businesses or to maintain their households. That organisation—not a politician, not a person in this place, but a key organisation in running the electricity and gas system across Australia—in its most recent report explicitly named regulatory approvals pricing intervention and the mandatory code of conduct, policies of the government, as 'key uncertainties impacting project timelines and the likelihood of completion' of gas projects.

These are the policies that were introduced in haste at the end of last year, in mid-December. The government called back the whole of parliament to introduce policies which effectively put price controls on the gas industry and provided the government with the opportunity to dictate the terms and conditions upon which that commodity could be sold and who it could be sold to. As a direct result of that, we now have our key regulator, an oversight authority of Australia's electricity and gas systems, saying that policy has created key uncertainties impacting project timelines and likelihood of completion.

When those of us on this side of the chamber got up and warned that it was basic economics that price control, however well intended, invariably impacts supply those opposite were derisive. They said, 'You don't care about keeping down electricity rises; you don't care about keeping down gas prices.' But, quite to the contrary, the price issue that this country was facing fundamentally was a supply issue. This country has enough gas to provide that energy resource to private consumers and businesses and plenty more on top of that. But the policy of the Albanese Labor government introduced price controls that have had a direct negative impact on Australians, be they in business or in their homes, relying upon that gas.

I can give you an example of a particular project in my home state of Queensland operated by a Queensland company called Senex which has been delayed as a direct result of that price control legislative architecture that was introduced late last year. As a direct result of this policy, a company called Senex, which I should say is approximately 50 per cent owned by a Korean organisation called Posco which has been investing in the Australian resources industry for decades and decades, has delayed $1 billion of spending on a gas project in south-west Queensland. Those gas reserves were actually reserved for domestic use. That project, which would produce gas for domestic use, has been delayed as a direct result of the price controls which have been introduced by the Labor government—$1 billion of investment. And why? They actually tell us why. They say, 'Because there's too much uncertainty.' How can you invest a billion dollars in a new project if you do not know how much you're going to be able to charge for your product, who you can sell it to, and the terms and conditions of sale? I'll say it again. How can you responsibly invest $1 billion in a project where the government can dictate to you the price you can sell it at, who you can sell it to, and the terms and conditions of sale? You know what? You can go three kilometres north of Australia, to Papua New Guinea, and invest in their oil and gas industry and not be faced with the same restrictions. So why would you invest an extra dollar in this jurisdiction, with those price controls, when you can invest in one of our nearest neighbours?