Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question. As the first person—in enthusiastic approval of your doing more pumped hydro in Tasmania—to have coined the phrase 'Battery of the Nation', I'm very grateful for the question. I can confirm that the origin of the Battery of the Nation proposal came from a speech I gave at the National Press Club in February 2017, where I identified the need for more storage to support the amount of intermittent renewables. I underlined the importance of having a technology-agnostic approach to energy in order to have cheaper electricity. The objective is to have cheaper electricity.

The honourable member should not be so obsessed about one technology or another. As it is, recommendation 4 from the ACCC to provide support for new generation, competitive generation, is technology-agnostic. It could apply to energy from a pumped-hydro scheme in Tasmania or in any other part of the country, just as it could apply to a new thermal plant, be it coal or gas, or a mixture of all of the above. It is technology-agnostic and it has one objective and one objective alone, which is to deliver cheaper electricity.

As Rod Sims himself said, if we start picking one technology over another, that leads to higher electricity prices. We've got to have a system, a plan, that delivers energy at a cheaper price, and that needs to be technology-agnostic.

Ms Keay interjecting—

The honourable member is endeavouring to interject, and I thank her for her contribution, which I can barely hear because her mic isn't on—the Leader of the Opposition has a problem with that, too, of course!—but the fact is that all technologies have a role to play, and the approach we are taking is technology-agnostic because we want to deliver cheaper electricity. Pumped hydro and wind in Tasmania no doubt have a big role to play, but let the market decide. Let it compete, and then we will see that the real winner will not be one theory or another, not one technology or another, but Australian families. Cheaper electricity: that's what the honourable member should be supporting. We look forward to her and her party supporting the National Energy Guarantee. Cheaper electricity: that's what it's all about.

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