Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to all questions without notice asked today.

In particular, I'd like to talk about electricity prices. As we just heard Senator McGrath point out, electricity prices have risen 21½ per cent since the Albanese government came to office and gas prices have risen by 22 per cent. Of course, this is just one of many broken promises made by the Albanese Labor government at the last election. They said that they would lower energy prices by $275.

The Labor government is unable to explain how they are going to lower energy prices. There's a very simple reason why they can't lower energy prices, and that is because they are obsessed with this renewable energy target of getting renewables to power 82 per cent of the grid by 2030. Anyone who understands anything about reliable energy, baseload energy and the ability to have energy on call—let's call it dispatchable energy—knows that you cannot build transmission lines and batteries, recycle all of this stuff, buy all the land where you're going to have to put these smaller generation plants, such as solar farms, wind farms et cetera, and then expect to manage it all.

Thirty years ago, we effectively had 30 coal-fired power stations on the eastern seaboard of Australia that provided about 90 per cent of the energy. Those power stations could run at any time during the day, and they weren't subject to market manipulation because they also happened to be publicly owned. They would just run on demand as the demand was required at a small profit to make sure that those profits could then go back into keeping the power stations going. I'm pleased to say that Queensland was one of the few states—if not the only state—that didn't actually sell their coal-fired power stations.

I have to admit that that was very lucky. I well remember under the Bligh-Beattie government that Anna Bligh, when she was the Treasurer and then Premier, went on an infrastructure privatisation spree the likes of which we have never seen and the likes of which Queensland has never recovered from. I am pleased to say that we didn't sell the coal-fired power stations, because today they provide billions of dollars in revenue to the Queensland government. When things go awry with renewable energy—and they will eventually—at least we know that we've got our power stations to keep us going in Queensland. Of course, that's notwithstanding the fact that Callide C blew up a couple of years ago because of the lack of maintenance and repairs on that power station. The Queensland Labor government have done everything they can to avoid taking responsibility for that.

In the short time I have left, let me give a bit of gratuitous advice to the Labor Party on how to deal with lowering power costs immediately. I call on you to abolish this fantasy of yours that you are going to have 80 per cent of renewable energy in the grid by 2030. You're not going to do it. You can't even get the Snowy Hydro project built, and that's a big part. Even though I say it's a big part, it's a big part of a very small part to reach that target. What you need to do is to go out to near my home town and build yourselves two power stations at the Kogan Creek Power Station. There's 400 million tonnes of coal out there that belongs to the Queensland people. That won't cost anything to buy. It's a very shallow coalmine that has a very low stripping ratio. You can get out there, dig up the coal and put it straight into the coal-fired power plants. I'll acknowledge that that was the last public coal-fired power station that was built by a Queensland government, under Peter Beattie. I'll call on that former Queensland MP sitting there very quietly, Senator Watt.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was there. I was working in the government.

Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I'll take that on notice. Get out there and build yourself another couple of coal-fired power stations out there immediately, because you're not going to reach your renewable energy target, and the longer you continue with this fantasy, the more you're going to drive up power prices. That is not dealing with the cost-of-living crisis. If you're serious about dealing with the cost-of-living crisis, you need, first and foremost, to deal with the cost of energy in this country.

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Look, it makes me laugh—I mean, I come from a state of almost 100 per cent renewable energy, and I hear stories like that: 'It'll never work'! It's ridiculous!

Energy prices are a serious issue for households and businesses. The Albanese government's reliable renewable energy plan means that wholesale energy prices are now lower than when the coalition left office. Maybe they forget about that. They look at the numbers and they try and twist them around.

We are helping to ease the cost-of-living pressures. We're doing that by giving every household relief, as Senator Gallagher said in her answer, of $300 from their energy bills.

Meanwhile, over on that side, what have the coalition got? No plans to bring electricity prices down. They voted against the legislation, time and time again. And what have they put into the future? A risky nuclear reactor. It's an idea—a thought bubble. It would add a thousand dollars to energy bills and would supply less than four per cent of the energy that households and businesses will need. And it's way off in the future—years and decades into the future.

The Australian Energy Market Operator, AEMO, who run our electricity grid, have said:

We are increasingly seeing renewable energy records being set which is a good thing for Australian consumers as it is key in driving prices down …

Now, I don't know what's wrong with those on that side, as to why they don't listen to the Energy Market Operator. In AEMO, they have all the information at their fingertips. That reduction is applied to electricity bills, our previous gas price cap and gas code, and it goes to reducing the price of gas for Australian households and industry. The independent office of impact assessments analysed our CIS and conducted that with the CIS, and they say, 'consumers are expected to face lower retail electricity prices on average, and a reduction in reliability risks'.

Those opposite, by contrast, have voted against the $3 billion in energy relief, as I said earlier, for millions of Australians, including pensioners. They voted against energy relief for pensioners, for low-income families, for veterans and for other people out in our community. They voted against it, time and time again. They've given up on cheaper energy for Australians. They voted against it every time. They changed the law to hide electricity price rises from the Australian people. Now they are advocating for nuclear energy, which is set to add thousands of dollars to energy bills and supply less than four per cent of the energy households and businesses need. The coalition promised at the 2019 election to get energy prices to $70 a megawatt hour, the average at the election.

Over the medium and long term, the Albanese government's reliable renewables plan is the only one supported by experts to deliver a clean, cheap, reliable and resilient energy system. As I said, I come from a state that has, I think, 98 per cent—nearly 100 per cent—renewable energy. So I'm not sure why those over on the other side are so opposed to it. The plan that the Albanese government have in relation to renewables is supported by independent advice from the CSIRO, a very trusted organisation, and the Australian Energy Market Operator. The lowest cost plan for a reliable energy grid is Australia's world-leading renewables, like solar and wind—firmed up, of course, with batteries, pumped hydro, flexible gas and transmission. So a whole range of initiatives that the Albanese Labor government are introducing will lower the cost of energy into the future.

The government will continue to help people with the cost of living, because we know that the cost of living is of concern. That's why we supported and brought in a $300 help with the cost of electricity bills, for everyone around the country, to help ease their cost-of-living burdens and to help them with their budgets. That's what those over on that side voted against, time and time again. They don't support helping Australians.

Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Home Ownership) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the last 2½ years, this government has spent almost all its time on being the best government for vested interests that it could be. I mean that in terms of shovelling money out the door to its mates but also calibrating the policies and laws of the nation to suit the narrow, vested interests of the union movement, the super funds and a few other gilded fellow travellers. The problem with this agenda, of course, is that the people that miss out here are the Australian people. They pay the price for this approach because, when the government is so focused on what's important to the unions, the CFMEU and co, then it runs out of time to solve the great problems of today like inflation and housing.

Just when you think that this government for vested interests couldn't get any better at being the government for vested interests, it cooks up this plan called a future made in Australia, which should be called 'the future of rent-seeking and bloodsucking in Australia'. There will be a cavalcade of lobbyists coming down here, on the road from Sydney, with their hands out to take taxpayer funds to use in their businesses which are already profitable and are in no need of a handout. If the government were serious about trying to improve the competitive dynamics of this economy it would be cutting taxes, deregulating and looking to provide policies like accelerated depreciation. That is the way to improve the competitive dynamics of the economy. But, instead of doing that, all it has done is increase the regulatory burden and increase taxes. It is no wonder that small business is dying under this government.

Yet it's come up with the policy of the ultimate cronyism: the Future Made in Australia, with $23 billion of taxpayers' funds to be given to their mates and other various fellow travellers. The Productivity Commission chair, Danielle Wood, has said:

We risk creating a class of businesses that is reliant on … subsidies …

That also means we're going to give taxpayer funds to these bloodsuckers, and they don't need it.

The prior chair of the PC, the Productivity Commission, has lectured the Treasurer and told him that he is engaging in rent-seeking. Dr Chalmers has had a good run. He's been attacked by his hand-picked chairs of the Productivity Commission and the Reserve Bank in the last couple of weeks, so it is going well for Dr Chalmers! He's a genius!

Of course, with this policy of institutionalised rent-seeking and bloodsucking, we will see, as we've already seen through the Senate committee submissions, every single organisation in the country come to Canberra with its hand out. We've seen, through the submissions, the gas companies, the caravan companies, chocolate companies—seriously! This is not a country where the government pays you to do business. This is an economy where you are supposed to be able to stand on your own two feet, and that is what millions of Australian small businesses do every single day. They hate the idea of corporate largesse being given out to Labor's mates in the unions and to other fellow travellers. This idea of a future made in Australia is very dangerous.

I would have thought that the government would have learnt from their boondoggle disasters like the Reconstruction Fund. I'm still not sure what we're actually reconstructing from, but we've got a massive reconstruction fund which spends money on nothing other than its own board members. Then of course we've got the mother of them all: the Housing Australia Future Fund, which is about to try and partner with the Cbus Super fund, which has got three CFMEU trustees on its board. The Labor Party says it's desperate to put the CFMEU into administration, but it couldn't give a rat's about the Cbus fund working with the Housing Australia Future Fund, which is going to receive taxpayers' funds. This is a bizarre situation that we are in, where the government for vested interests runs the policy and the money for their mates. This is institutionalising cronyism.

I am not surprised at how angry small-business people in our country are about how bad this government is with its priorities. It is disgusting. That is why we are against the Future Made in Australia.

Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Our government is supporting Australians with bread-and-butter cost-of-living pressures, making life easier for families and supporting the economy to grow. We know Australians are doing it tough. The Albanese Labor government are focused on actually delivering for Australians. We are not being demure about our plans to provide cost-of-living relief for all Australians. We are being mindful in how we manage the economy. There's no quick fix for the high global cost-of-living, but the Albanese Labor government's No. 1 priority is helping take some of the pressure off you and your family.

We're delivering energy bill relief. While the opposition continue whiteboarding their economic plan and playing games, the Albanese Labor government is providing $300 in energy bill relief to every household and transforming Australia into a renewable energy superpower. We're continuing to deliver on Labor's energy bill relief plan, with $3½ billion in relief, for every household, including those in the Mallee, in the Goulburn Valley, in Hume and in Melbourne's east. All households will see a $300 credit automatically applied to their electricity bills in this financial year, and around one million small businesses will receive $325 off their bills over 2024 and 2025.

We are delivering a tax cut for every Australian taxpayer, including a whopping 3½ million taxpayers in Victoria. We are delivering a wage increase for early-years childcare workers. The opposition argue that they are the champions of higher wages for all Australians; however, on 8 August on ABC RN Breakfast, shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor stopped short of supporting the Labor's government's 15 per cent wage increase for early-years childcare workers. Since those opposite were unable to do the maths or explain their rationale, let me do it for you. The rate of inflation is 3.8 per cent. The wage increase is 15 per cent. The result is the Albanese Labor government delivering real, higher wages for early-years workers.

We're also building more homes for Australians, with more social and affordable housing, more infrastructure, increased removal of red tape, better transport for more accessible cities and increased housing for students. This $6.2 billion boost in the budget takes the Albanese government's total housing investment to a whopping $32 billion. We are cutting student debt for more than three million students and wiping around $3 billion in student debt. To do this, we're introducing HELP loan credits for people impacted by the recent inflation spike. We're making sure that, in the future, student debt never grows faster than someone's ability to pay it off. This means we're improving the way indexation is calculated and making sure last year's indexation spike cannot happen again.

We're also establishing a Commonwealth Prac Payment to support around 68,000 eligible higher education students and over 5,000 VET students each year when they undertake mandatory work placements required for their course. This payment will provide $319.50 per week to students in teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work during their clinical and professional placement periods, with the majority of students and workers in these critical fields being women. As someone who has worked in the social services sector, I know how much heart and compassion comes from the people who work in this sector, and I'm sure they will be absolutely stoked that they are being paid on their placements.

The Albanese Labor government is investing in new jobs and opportunities in every part of our country, including communities in Victoria. Making our future here in Australia is about making the most of our nation's potential and making sure everyone shares in the benefits. Our Future Made in Australia plan will maximise the economic and industrial benefits of the international move to net zero and secure Australia's place in the changing global economic and strategic landscape. The 2024-25 budget will invest $22.7 billion over a decade to help Australia succeed and remain an indispensable part of the global economy.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Queen Marie Antoinette of France, the Queen Consort of Louis XVI, when advised by royal advisers to have said that the peasants were rioting because they couldn't afford to buy bread, is rumoured to have said, 'Well, let them eat cake.' I think of that story when I listen to the answers from the government ministers in this chamber, and it is a let-them-eat-cake government. It is a government that is out of touch and a government that fails to understand that there is a cost-of-living crisis in Australia. This cost-of-living crisis did not emanate from some Labor focus group that the secretary of the Labor Party briefed the cabinet on; this cost-of-living crisis has been going on for the last couple of years. Funnily enough, it coincides with the election of a big-spending Labor government who are spending an extra $315 billion of taxpayers' money, and this money is driving up the cost of living.

The question that I put to Senator McAllister, who is representing the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, was a very simple question. I asked the minister: in dollar terms, how much has the average electricity bill gone up since Labor was elected in May 2022? Now, you don't need to hold the front page to be told that the minister was unable to answer this question. The minister did not know how much the average electricity bill has gone up. So that should send a massive warning to every Australian about how out of touch this Labor government are when they don't know how much bills have gone up under their policies.

We have a Labor Party who, before the last election, promised 97 times that they would cut power bills by $275. For those listening at home, please put your hands up or shout loudly at the TV or the radio if you think that your power bill has gone down by at least $275 since the Labor Party have come to power. Of course, no-one's power bills have gone down. In fact, everybody's power bills under the Labor Party, because of the policies of the Labor Party, have gone up.

But it is not just the power bills that have gone up. Food has gone up by 11 per cent. Health has gone up by 11 per cent. Insurance has gone up by 17 per cent. We've had 12 mortgage rate rises. Rent has gone up 15 per cent yet we have a let-them-eat-cake government that is led by a weak Prime Minister. There are invertebrates at the bottom of the Mariana Trench that have stronger backbones than this Prime Minister. But he is not alone. If you look around the cabinet table, a cabinet table of union barons and former Labor Party advisers who do not understand how the economy operates or the importance of small business and the importance of employing people, the importance of the resource industry, the importance of just business generally to ensure that this economy can grow, we have a government who just like spending money. This goes to their inability to understand what is happening with people's power bills.

One of the questions we put to the minister was: will the Labor Party take a commitment to the next election that they will cut people's power bills? Once again, you don't need to hold the front page or turn down the computer to understand that the Labor Party refused to make that commitment, because, in a rare moment of a minister telling the truth by not actually answering the question, the minister actually said they would not be able to do that. The minister instead tried to deflect and play, disappointingly, partisan politics in relation to this issue.

This is a minister who fails to understand it is important that the Australian community understand that there are government decision-makers who sit around the cabinet table who understand the impact of a cost-of-living crisis in Australia. Sadly, we do not have that with the Labor Party here in Canberra. We have a Labor Party who instead just want to play their games, who want to effectively run a protection racket of the CFMEU, a union who, for the last decade upon decade, have brought thuggery to building sites around Australia and have also driven up the cost of living. It is a crisis, and the Prime Minister is to blame.

Question agreed to.