David Van (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It doesn't matter, yes, because your Andrews government had a moratorium on it, that's why. When they knew they wouldn't be able to fulfil the promise of cutting power bills by $275, they promised an assistance package would be finalised in March—with support expected to flow from April. However, again—surprise, surprise!—they've broken that promise and not delivered the financial support that they promised on the time line that they set to help people with the rising energy cost crisis that they have caused. The truth is that we knew higher power prices would come with this government's ill-thought-out, illogical and, frankly, quite ridiculous energy plan.

To be clear: I'm very supportive of the transition to a net zero economy, and I believe it should be more ambitious than what this government has set for its Paris target. When I attended COP27 in Egypt last year, one thing was abundantly clear: whether you like it or not, transition to renewables is happening. Anyone not on board and in front of this tidal wave of investment, regulation and finance will be swept away. However, it is lucky that only a few Labor members attended. If they had been there, if they'd had a strong presence, they would have been laughed out of the place, had they presented their plan to get to 43 per cent. In the best of conditions, this transition is going to be long and it's going to be hard and it's going to be expensive. Given that, we don't have a dollar or a day to waste.

What we need is for this government to not make energy more costly and harder on Australians that it has to be. Despite the Albanese government repeatedly blaming the Ukraine invasion and coalition policy to explain Australia's steadily rising power bills, the impact of the current proposed policy is foundational to the uncertain future of domestic energy prices, decarbonisation and the required investment.

This government's reasoning is that the energy crisis is due to Russia's illegal invasion. However, it is more important to note that the ACCC reported that the netback price of LNG was at $41 per gigajoule before the events in Ukraine. This issue has been prevalent globally, including in Australia, for a decade, due to a lack of investment in new supply. In fact, JP Morgan's 2022 annual energy paper explicitly states:

If the transition is to succeed, we cannot disconnect the generation we have before we have time to replace it. We know that, under this government, power prices are going to remain high—that's just a fact—and that will be its failure.

Question agreed to.