Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Emergency Management) Share this | Hansard source

I am asked about the energy system and I'm asked about the future of the energy system, and it's a curious line of questioning from a group of people whose proposition is that they will deliver the most expensive form of energy available in a decade's time. And it's curious, too, to reflect on the actual record, because what was the approach taken by those opposite over the decade that they were in power? It was to sweat coal assets, and what did that produce? It produced four gigawatts of dispatchable power leaving the system over the period. It produced 24 coal-fired power stations bringing forward or announcing their closure dates, and not a thing was done about it. Do you know what their plan is for the next decade? It's to do exactly the same thing—just sweat those assets, people, and you'll get exactly the same result that you got the last time you tried it.