Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm always very pleased to stand in the Senate and talk about energy and talk about our policies as a government, because only an Albanese Labor government is implementing overdue policy reform to deliver cheaper, cleaner, more-reliable energy to our system. And it is difficult to take seriously a motion from a party that led a decade of denial, a decade of delay and a decade of leadership spills based purely on an ideological view that they couldn't settle an energy policy. They had 22 energy policies and three leadership spills—four if you want to throw the Nationals in too—all because they couldn't agree on what we needed to do to fix our energy market, and now they want to come in here and talk to Australians about affordable and reliable energy when we know that for over a decade they failed to do what was required.

While the former government put their heads in the sand and ignored repeated calls to bring on new supply and transmission, we are acting to ensure Australia's energy grid is fit for purpose for the 21st century. When it comes to power bills, we took urgent action to shield Australian families and businesses from the worst of global energy price spikes. Our energy bill relief rebates were targeted to more than five million households doing it the toughest and will provide additional hundreds of dollars off bills for everyday Australians. That is energy price bill rebate relief that those opposite voted against. They voted in this chamber for higher energy prices for Australians doing it tough, and now they want to come in here and pretend that they care about those very Australians and energy bills they are receiving.

I'm glad that we've had an opportunity to talk about AEMO's 2023 electricity statement of opportunities, which was released last week, because the report was clear, despite the misinformation you might hear today from those opposite, about the Albanese government's plan to turbocharge renewables, which is even more critical than ever following a decade of coalition energy inaction and neglect. The report clearly outlines that the federal and state government policies, including Rewiring the Nation and the Capacity Investment Scheme, are more important than ever, more important than ever to increase supply and reduce the risk of shortfalls across the country. This is an important report and it's one that our government is taking seriously.

It begs the question. I thought, 'Surely this isn't the first time we've seen a report like this published by the energy market regulator,' and it's not. In 2017 the same report was published, and it said that it confirmed the need for additional investments and new approaches to ensure AEMO has a reliable portfolio of dispatchable energy. In 2017 they said that, but did the Liberal-National do anything? Well, I think they were preparing to spill another leadership, but they didn't do anything to make sure that we had dispatchable power. In 2018 the same report was released with the same request for more reliable energy, and those opposite did nothing in government. In 2019 the same report said there was a continued elevated risk of expected unserved energy over the next 10 years as well as forecast tight electricity supply and demand conditions in several states for the upcoming summer, and those in government did nothing in response to that report. The same report in 2020 called for the same risk to be managed, and in 2021 the same report said the NEM will need more generation, storage and transmission than is currently operating, and what did those opposite do? They rolled Michael McCormack when Scott Morrison was looking likely to commit to net zero. That's how those opposite have approached these reports. Our government is approaching this report in a completely different way: by making sure that, when it comes to affordable and reliable energy, our government has the policies and is making the investment to fix the mess left by a decade of division and denial from those opposite.

When it comes to reducing energy bills, those opposite are pursuing the most expensive form of power—nuclear—which will take the longest to build. How's that Collinsville Power Station, Senator Hughes? Have we built the Collinsville Power Station yet, Senator Canavan? We took action to provide bill relief when we were given the chance, but those opposite voted against it.