David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions asked by coalition senators.

When I contract constituents in my home state of South Australia via phone canvassing or in meetings, the issues raised with me at No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 are the cost-of-living crisis—concerns about inflation, the impact on household budgets of things like power prices, the concerns from small business about the impact of power prices and the rising costs of insurance, and the impact on industry, particularly those energy intensive industries, from the raising cost of prices.

In my home state of South Australia, despite all of the rhetoric from this government about their transition to cheaper renewables, South Australia pays the highest price for electricity in Australia at 45.5c per kilowatt hour, which is amongst the most expensive in the world. With these pressures on businesses who employ Australians and these pressures on households, people need a government, a prime minister, a leader, who takes the issues seriously and who they can trust.

The response was vicious to say the least when this Prime Minister tweeted an ill-thought-through copy of a pop album cover to try and promote what he believes is good news from the government, and people say, 'You are a joke.' They also wonder who they can trust when they see the Prime Minister standing in front of a press conference saying that the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia didn't say the things that she very clearly did say about the inflationary impacts of government spending. When the Prime Minister contradicts not only the words but the policies of the independent Reserve Bank of Australia and its governor, he calls into question some of the underpinnings of Australia's economic system and the integrity of one of our key public officials. It is no wonder that in the press, in news articles in days following, we saw comments like, 'Denial and blame shifting was the name of Albanese's game.' It is only because of the role of the parliament in holding the Prime Minister to account that he has now backtracked on those claims.

Australians, whether they are moms and dads at home or people running a small business employing other Australians or large firms seeking to manufacture things here in Australia, they cannot trust Prime Minister Albanese and his policies or his words. We see that, particularly in the area of the cost of living and the cost of electricity in the energy policy. I have risen in this place previously to explain why the words in and policies of both Mr Bowen and Prime Minister Albanese are at odds with global experts like the International Energy Agency and the OECD as to the impact of seeking to achieve net zero by 2050 based on a renewables-dominated energy system. Despite the words mouthed by Mr Bowen and Mr Albanese, evidence from overseas both in engineering and economic analysis borne out by the lived experience of other nations shows that the pathway this government has Australia on is making a bad situation worse.

The OECD analysis highlights that where we are at the moment with rising power prices is just the start of a trajectory which will be unaffordable for advanced economies if the transition is based on renewables only, which is the current plan of the government. Independent experts here in Australia have highlighted that the true cost of the Albanese approach will be in the trillions of dollars rather than the billions of dollars which the coalition is proposing with the change to our energy systems to include baseload power from clean, modern nuclear reactors.

The lived experiences of nations overseas including, for example, the province of Ontario, is that, with the majority of their power nuclear, they are paying 13c per kilowatt hour compared to South Australia's 45c.