Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Birmingham, the Minister for Education and Training, representing the Minister for the Environment and Energy. Can the minister outline how the Turnbull government's energy plan will prioritise reliability and affordability in Australia's energy network?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Duniam for his question and the commitment he places on the importance of reliable, affordable energy in Australia. The electricity guarantee that the Turnbull government has announced today, comprising a reliability guarantee and an emissions guarantee, will deliver the type of reliable, affordable energy Australia needs for the future. We know that households and businesses need to know that, when they flick the switch, the power will come through, the lights will go on and the doors of the business can be opened. The advice to government on the problem is clear. The independent security board has made it very clear that 'there is currently insufficient incentive to drive investment in new, flexible, dispatchable resources and maintain existing such resources'. They've defined the problem.

They have also identified the solution in recommending the development of an obligation on retailers to meet a percentage of their load requirements with flexible and dispatchable resources. They've said that is resources that can be scheduled by the market operator, depending on the real-time operating needs of the system. That's the key phrase here: the real-time operating needs of the system. What does the energy market need at a given point in time to ensure that, when any household or business goes to turn on its electricity, the power is coming through, and coming through at the most affordable rate? The reliability guarantee will ensure that across Australia that certainty is delivered to Australian households and businesses in the future.

Our government knows the Australian economy cannot function without reliable energy. If those opposite cared about keeping the lights on, if they cared about the reliability of our energy, they would sit down with the experts, as the Turnbull government has, they would listen to the experts and they would work cooperatively on the implementation of this policy, which can give the guarantee Australia needs that our energy will be reliable and affordable in the future.

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

Senator Duniam, a supplementary question.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for the answer. Can the minister advise the Senate how the government's energy plan will meet Australia's international commitments?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The energy guarantee delivers the reliability guarantee and the emissions guarantee. It achieves both of these objectives, and it does so at least cost because it does so in a coordinated way, meeting these requirements simultaneously. It means that coal, gas, hydro and biomass will be rewarded or recognised for their dispatchability—that they can be put into the market when required—but lower emissions technologies including wind, solar and hydro will equally be recognised for their role in meeting the emissions reduction guarantee. The truth is that under these reforms reliability won't be traded away to meet emissions targets. Emissions targets won't be sacrificed to meet reliability. But what we will see is indeed that we will get both: we'll get the reliability and we'll meet the emissions targets. Most importantly to Australian users, the evidence is clear that we will do so at the lowest cost by using the existing electricity market systems.

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

Senator Duniam, a final supplementary question.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Finally, can the minister inform the Senate of what the government is doing to put downward pressure on electricity prices?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I've told the Senate endlessly, we're taking action at every single step of the electricity supply chain. We've taken action with retailers, we've taken action with energy networks, we're taking action in terms of the generation mix, and we're taking action in terms of ensuring that meeting our emissions reduction obligations and meeting the reliability requirements for the Australian energy market is done and achieved in the most efficient, effective way—without the need for new bureaucracies, without the need for certificate trading and without the need for new schemes but by using the existing market frameworks to guarantee reliability, to guarantee emissions reduction and, as the evidence demonstrates, to do so in a way that provides cost savings to consumers, cost savings against business-as-usual operations, cost savings against a clean energy target and cost savings certainly against the type of policy proposals those opposite have come up with in the past—cost savings that ensure we give the reliability and affordability that Australians need. (Time expired)

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

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.