Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

What we just heard is more bluster. What we just heard is more spin. What we heard is more scare. We only want to hear two things from the other side. One is: what is the total system cost of your plan by 2030? They can't give us that. Why? Because they don't know. They don't know the cost of their own policy that they rolled out two years ago. They have a department with thousands of people dedicated to this, and they don't know the cost of their own plan. What a joke. But they have to know the cost of our plan. They can make up numbers. They can multiply. 'Take away the number you first thought of. Think about this. Think about that.' This is a full Penn and Teller show over here. The magic and diversion is on display for everyone to see. 'Open the envelope. There's the magic number.' Here's what our plan will cost, but what will their plan cost? They cannot tell us, because they do not know.

You look at something like Snowy Hydro, and they say: 'It's gone from $6 billion to $12 billion. It's just a rounding error that it's double.' But they don't tell you about the $10 billion worth of lines that they need to plug it in, the extension cord so it actually connects to something. So suddenly it's $22 billion. And they get up today and say, 'In the budget is $22 billion for this and that and that.' That's for the budget this year. What about the plan to 2030? They talk about the floating offshore wind turbines in Port Stephens and the Illawarra. They talk about how this will be great, how this will do that and how it will be half the cost of any other offshore wind turbine in the world that is already built. Forget inflation. Forget extra costs. Forget doing something that's never been done before, like floating substations. This will be half the cost of that incurred by the people who have done it. This is a magic show with smoke, mirrors and deception.

So No. 1 is: tell us how much it will cost. They can't do that. No. 2 is: What is the government going to put into it? How many taxpayer dollars are at risk when we subsidise, underwrite, loan and put equity into this? They can't tell us that. This is where we've got to. They demand actual numbers from a policy that has been announced over here while hiding and walking away from any commitments they've made. This isn't a policy for the government. This is a pop quiz, something to look good. We have Independent members from the other house who fight against eight wind turbines on their land in their electorates but want to build 300 off the coast of New South Wales in the Illawarra and up the Hunter. There are environmental lands out there in the world where there are koalas and habitat, and we can't farm them or develop them unless it's for a wind tower or a transmission line. Just give us some consistency. Give us those two things: how much of your taxpayers' money it will cost to roll out the 82 per cent target by 2030 and the total system cost. I'll be happy if you can give us those.

The scary thing is that I think we'll get more bluster about 'our costings' and 'what we're doing'. This is the policy of the government. If you can't tell us, then tell the people. I've seen the media talking points all over weekend: 'If they can't tell us how much it costs, we can't vote for it.' You can't tell how much the policy you're actually rolling out costs. Prove me wrong. I'd love it. That's the name of a Penn and Teller show. Prove me wrong. Come up with a number that 2032 costs. Say: 'Is nuclear safe for our sailors on the boats who will be sleeping 10 metres away from it?' Say: 'We will be expanding our nuclear exports to the rest of the world'—because we are scared of facts, because we are scared of black and white, because we are scared that your thing is a trip to nowhere, while we actually have a plan.

If you can't cost it, if you can't explain it and if there are contingencies everywhere, it is a joke of a policy. If you've got one policy—and you keep saying that we had 22—how about you try and get another one that works? A second policy would be good, seeing how bad this one is. That's what we come here to do in this place: we sit here and don't answer. We go to estimates and we don't answer. Transparency is the best for government. It is best for the Australian people when you get out there and say, 'I would love our plan to come out and be costed, and I'm sure we will in the next phase of what we announce,' because it is a popular plan and it's a good plan. I've been to Muswellbrook. I went up there with shadow minister O'Brien, and we spoke to the people on the ground. You have nothing, you won't be honest and the people deserve better.