Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of all answers given to all coalition questions today.

Unfortunately, we got a typical example in this place of a non-question time, non- answer time in this place where we didn't get answers to serious questions that were put here in this place. We want to have a serious debate when it comes to the future of our energy system. Peter Dutton, the Leader of the Opposition, is putting forward a serious plan that requires a serious debate on whether or not Australia should have nuclear energy as part of its mix. But, unfortunately, this government is—as we saw in question time—not able to answer questions or not prepared to answer the questions when asked about the costs of their own policies, or when asked about the safety of nuclear energy when it comes to the submarines that we are going to have some mariners work alongside of and, indeed, for those that are going to be on these vessels—actually travelling in and working in them. We're not getting answers, and it is unacceptable.

We know that Australia's energy system is at a crisis. We have seen reports, even today, that if things don't go well over this winter, we're going to have a shortage of gas, which would mean that we would see a significant reduction in the generation of power to keep our lights on. This is all happening under this government's watch because they are pursuing a folly. They are pursuing a folly when it comes to an all-renewable energy program. We know that that's not practical. We are an 'all of the above' policy people. We are looking to have a mixture of renewables and gas, and a future that will have zero-emissions nuclear that will replace the coal plants that will come offline into the future. But this government is not taking this issue seriously. We saw the very good announcement by the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow minister for energy, Ted O'Brien. When that announcement was made, what did we see from this lot over here, opposite us here today? What did we see? We saw them put up memes on their social media of three-eyed fish and three-eyed koalas. I mean, this is ridiculous. What Australia needs is a proper debate. Not only are their plans unaffordable; they're unworkable. You could have all the energy storage in the world. You could have all the batteries that you could possibly have. You could have all the hydro that you could possibly build. But if you don't have the reliable power generation to even be able to charge those things, then over time—let's say you get a run of cloudy days or a run of windless days—you won't be able to recharge. So, you need to have that reliable energy generation.

Nuclear provides emissions-free, reliable, safe and cost-effective generation of power that will be part of the mix. That's what we're providing. We've got confidence in this, because the rest of the world is pursuing it. We're the only one of 20 developed countries in the world that either don't have nuclear energy or aren't pursuing a nuclear energy future. Australia is being left behind and, frankly, the rest of the world are scratching their heads and wondering, why is Australia not doing this? So, instead of putting up ridiculous, juvenile memes, why don't you come in here with facts and have a serious debate so we can decide to pursue a future that provides reliability and cost-effective energy?