Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction. Minister, the world has witnessed and experienced extreme weather in the last few months. We've had flooding, bushfires and heatwaves across Europe, the US, China and India. We, of course, had our own climate fires here in Australia as well. We are facing code red when it comes to our climate and the health of our planet. So why, in this climate crisis, is the Morrison government—and the Labor Party—spending millions of public dollars propping up and opening up new gas fields, like in the Beetaloo basin, which will only increase emissions by six per cent and make climate change worse?

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hanson-Young for the question. In terms of part of the question, as to why the Labor Party supported the government, I can't answer for the Labor Party, except to perhaps say that they had a temporary dose of common sense in supporting the coalition government when it comes to energy policy. But, when it comes to our support for unlocking gas in the Beetaloo basin, this is about a gas led recovery and our strategy to make sure that we have reliable and affordable energy as we embark on a process of ensuring our economy continues to reduce its emissions and that we are able to play our part in an international effort to reduce emissions without killing our economy. By supporting gas, we are actually supporting a whole range of energy sources. If you want to see the massive uptake in renewables that we have seen in this country at a record rate, you need to make sure that you have the firming power, the base-load energy, that enables our economy to continue.

The question that needs to be asked of the Greens is: which base-load energy source do they support? I have never actually heard the Greens indicate which base-load energy they support. They don't support gas. They don't support coal. They don't support hydro. Which particular source of base-load energy that would support renewables—solar energy and wind—do the Greens support? This government supports renewable energy but we also support affordable and reliable energy for our economy. That's what we are doing, and that's why we're supporting the Beetaloo basin and the opening up— (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hanson-Young, a supplementary question?

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. What bumbling fools—I mean, honestly! Your coal and gas subsidy announced today will force householders and businesses to pay more for their power bills. You talk about not wanting to kill the economy. Well, this 'whack and attack' on the renewable energy industry announced today is foolish. How much are Australians going to have to pay on their power bills because of your 'CoalKeeper' plan?

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hanson-Young for the question. What she has demonstrated again with that question is that she wants to bring national the experiment by the former South Australia Labor government. That is what the Greens would like to see. They would like to see the Australian people not having the energy they need to support jobs, to support the economy and to support their ability to live in the kind of comfort that many of us have come to expect, including the Greens. I am always interested in the lecturing tone from the Greens, who never lead by example. I am reminded of a local Green who said, 'We want to take you back to the caves, just not yet.' They are prepared to enjoy all of the abundant energy sources we have. We're bringing down energy prices; that's what we've been doing. We're not going to take advice from the Greens which would destroy our economy. (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hanson-Young, a final supplementary question?

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The intellectual prowess represented on the front bench! Energy market analysts have estimated that your 'CoalKeeper' plan is going to cost householders from $180 to $430. Will the government tell us how much householders' power bills will be because of your dodgy plan to prop up coal today?

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I reject the premise of the question from Senator Hanson-Young. What we have seen under this government is that our policies have seen energy prices coming down. And this is how you get energy prices down in this country: you get investment in new technologies. You get investment in renewables, which we've seen at record levels—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hanson-Young, on a point of order?

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you—relevance. I asked whether the government could confirm how much householders' power bills would cost under this plan.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hanson-Young, your question had a great deal of commentary. It commenced with what I assume was a sarcastic barb. Frankly, if questions are phrased in that way, ministers have a great deal of discretion in how they can answer them. It wasn't as simple as you outlined. Senator Seselja.

Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. Clearly Senator Hanson-Young is in a very bad mood this afternoon. I don't know what's caused that. She's clearly got some of the angry pills today. But what I would say in response to Senator Hanson-Young is that our policies have been bringing energy prices down and we are not going to take advice from the Greens about getting rid of base-load energy and not investing in gas. We will continue to invest in gas because it is a critically important part of our energy mix that will support the economy, and support our efforts to reduce emissions.

Honourable senators interjecting—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I didn't quite catch everything said there due to interjections, but I will remind senators not to make reflections that are personal or directed at other individual senators when they are addressing the chamber.