Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

Senator, your question actually omits a really important part of the advice that we received from the market operator. The advice that we received—and it's based on very significant economic modelling and engagement with a whole range of market participants and experts in the energy system—is that the optimal configuration of technology for a future grid involves renewables, firmed by storage, including batteries, and supplemented by gas. That's the plan that has been recommended to us, and the policy settings that we've put in place are designed to allow investment in those kinds of technologies to be brought forward.

As I indicated in my answer to your primary question, there is a problem because there was an extended period when the lack of certainty in the policy settings of the previous government meant that the necessary investment didn't take place, and we are taking steps to remedy that problem.