Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Brandis. Yesterday, the minister delivered on the centrepiece of his energy policy: a cup of tea with energy executives. Can the minister confirm that the energy executives used the cup of tea to urge the Prime Minister to finally make a decision on a clean energy target?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Look, Senator Carr, I know that you regard a serious meeting with industry leaders called by the Prime Minister to address an important national issue with flippancy, but we don't. We do not regard this as an unimportant issue; we regard it as a very important issue.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You don't do anything about it.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will take that interjection, Senator Wong. What we have in fact done is—together, by the way, with state Labor governments—through COAG, commission a comprehensive review by Australia's chief scientist, Professor Alan Finkel, into the future of energy policy. We have already adopted 49 of the 50 recommendations of the Finkel report and will shortly be announcing our response to the one outstanding recommendation. Secondly, through you, Mr President, Senator Carr, what the government has done has been to engage directly with industry: first, with the gas industry to very, very good effect; and now with the electricity retailers. And, far from having a cup of tea with them, Senator Carr, what the Prime Minister, the Minister for the Environment and Energy, the Treasurer and the Deputy Prime Minister discussed with the CEOs yesterday was ways in which they can make the market much more transparent for consumers in particular by enabling consumers to be better informed as to how they can move their arrangements for their electricity bills onto the lowest-cost basis possible. The transparency of electricity pricing is an important part of the problem, and for you, Senator Carr, to regard this as having nothing more than a cup of tea is not, with respect, a flippancy the Australian people will respect.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Attorney-General. Senator Carr, a supplementary question?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This morning, the managing director of Energy Australia, Catherine Tanna, described the clean energy target as: 'The best chance we have of getting a clear plan for the future.' When will the government finally resolve its internal divisions and provide a clear plan for the future?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I note what Ms Tanna said about this matter, Senator Carr. The government, as I told one of your colleagues in answer to a question yesterday, is carefully considering the matter—it's a matter under discussion at the moment—and the response to Professor Finkel's recommendation about a clean energy target will be the subject of an announcement in the near future.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Carr, a final supplementary question.

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor have indicated that we are willing to work in a bipartisan fashion to end the policy uncertainty that is costing Australian energy consumers. When will Prime Minister Turnbull finally show the strong leadership he has professed to possess and end this government's policy paralysis?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, might I remind you, Senator Carr, that it was the Prime Minister who commissioned the Finkel review through the COAG process. It was the Prime Minister who is giving effect to the recommendations of the Finkel review. It was the Prime Minister who summoned the gas company executives to Canberra to ensure that the availability of gas on the domestic market was appropriate, given the capacity of gas exporters to export gas and to use export licences as a vehicle or as a tool to ensure downward pressure on energy prices within the domestic market. And it was the Prime Minister who yesterday summoned the CEOs of the energy retailers, as I have explained, not for a cup of tea but for a serious discussion—a serious discussion—about how their billing practices can be made more transparent to energy consumers. That is the sort of decisive action that this government has taken and is taking.