Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Without a subsidy. That is the price without a subsidy. These sources can provide reliable energy through true integration of the National Electricity Market when coupled with storage technology, whether it is pumped hydro or battery storage.

I am proud to represent a coal-fired region. My region was built on coal and coal will have a strong role into the future. But we need to be realistic. We cannot lie, which is what those members opposite are doing. We cannot perpetuate untruths that somehow coal-fired power is competitive against unsubsidised renewable energy in this country. It is just wrong. The government's own regulators have said it is wrong. The government's own regulators have said an emissions intensity scheme will lower power prices and decarbonise the grid, and that is what we should be talking about in this debate.

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