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

I thank the honourable member. The government is getting on with Snowy Hydro 2.0. It's going to be built. There will be lots of jobs created in the honourable member's electorate. The reality is that Snowy Hydro 2.0 will put downward pressure on electricity prices, because it will reduce volatility in the electricity market. It has an enormous role to play in delivering greater security and lower prices.

Dr Mike Kelly interjecting—

I heard the honourable member agree with me when I said it would deliver lower prices. What a pity it wasn't his idea or the Labor Party's idea—what a pity! What a pity that it fell to the Liberal Party and the National Party to come back and get that great project out of the old, cobwebbed filing cabinet that it had been left in since the late 1980s—to get that back and get on with it. The Labor Party talks about energy and they talk about renewables, but it's all ideology and plenty of idiocy. We're providing the engineering and the economics, and the engineering and the economics mean you've got to have cheaper electricity. To have cheaper electricity, you need to have storage, and that's the role pumped hydro can play. I thank the honourable member. Although he's not necessarily very factual in his responses, I thank him for giving me the opportunity to talk about one of the great price-reducing initiatives, engineering initiatives and economic initiatives of my government.

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