John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Regional Development, Senator Nash. Can the minister outline how the coalition government is working to improve energy security, reliability and affordability for regional Australian households and businesses?

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Williams for this very important question. Energy affordability, of course, is a huge issue for households, businesses and farmers across regional New South Wales and, indeed, right across regional Australia. That's precisely why we are taking action on a number of fronts to help address this issue.

While those opposite are intent on pursuing ideological energy policies, the coalition is delivering meaningful and practical measures guided by expert engineers and economists. We commissioned the Finkel review and, at the recent COAG Energy Council, 49 out of 50 recommendations from the Finkel review were agreed to, including three-year notice of closure, generator reliability and security obligations. We are also taking strong action on gas supply, which will ensure the gas supply needs of Australian households and consumers are met before those of international customers.

What I am most proud of is the massive investment the Turnbull-Joyce government will be making to build Snowy Hydro 2.0, which will increase energy security and affordability for regional households and businesses and bring much-needed jobs to the Snowy Mountains region. Snowy Hydro 2.0 will help make renewables reliable, filling in holes caused by intermittent supply and generator outages. It will enable greater energy efficiency and help stabilise electricity supply into the future. This project could boost electricity production capacity by 2,000 megawatts—enough to power an additional 500,000 homes. It's estimated this truly nation-building project will create thousands of engineering and construction jobs—at least 5,000. Those are jobs that will be of great benefit to the great people of Cooma, Jindabyne, and the entire Snowy region and beyond.

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

Senator Williams, a supplementary question.

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for her answer. Minister, what additional measures is the government implementing to ensure that regional Australian households and businesses have access to affordable and reliable energy?

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to report that last week the Prime Minister secured agreement from retailers on immediate measures and ongoing changes to put regional families and small businesses first. The commitments include contacting all customers who are on expired discounts and telling them how much they can save on a better deal; requiring companies to report to the government and the ACCC on what they are doing to get families onto a better deal and how many families remain on expired deals; developing simple, plain-English fact sheets with understandable comparison rates; changing electricity rules requiring companies to inform customers when their discount benefits end, setting out the dollar impact of doing nothing; and ensuring families and individuals on hardship programs will not lose any benefit or a discount for a late payment. These are immediate actions being taken by this government, ones we have secured to help ensure families are not paying more for their power than they should.

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

Senator Williams, a final supplementary question.

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister advise the Senate of whether she is aware of any alternative approaches to energy policy and how these policies would impact on regional Australia?

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We know that the Labor Party plans to force the closure of coal-fired power stations at a time when we can least afford it. I also remind the Senate of the last time Labor brought in a carbon tax. That tax represented a $15 billion cost to Australia's economy, and we in the coalition believe there is a better and more pragmatic approach. Labor's carbon tax made farmers less competitive internationally, it made our regional industries less competitive internationally, and it risked the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of regional Australian working families who rely on affordable energy to power their industries and to provide their jobs. Regional households, businesses and farms are under unprecedented cost pressures and now is not the time to be either conducting big experiments like the Labor Party's Jay Weatherill is doing in South Australia or bringing back crude taxes that will hurt regional people without helping the environment.