Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Let's be clear about what's happened here and what this government is trying to do. Let's run through this pathetic attempt by this government to distract from its complete failure when it comes to energy policy. This is a government for whom every energy plan has collapsed; every energy policy has been destroyed by its own side. It's come up with a pathetic alibi of a policy called divestment. It had to be rewritten overnight in the Treasury because the government didn't have confidence in the Treasurer's drafting of the proposal. It had to be completely reframed to make it constitutional, to make it comply with the Constitution. I pay tribute to the officials in the Treasury who had to work so hard to rewrite this legislation.

But I say with all due respect: the House has not yet seen the legislation properly. The Treasurer rose to his feet just before question time to introduce the legislation. He didn't even finish his introduction before question time. He had to finish it off a moment ago, just then. So the legislation is not the legislation that was issued for consultation; it is completely different. Nobody has seen this legislation. The industry hasn't seen the legislation, the opposition hasn't seen the legislation and—guess what?—the Liberal and National party rooms haven't seen the legislation either. They can't have, because it was introduced about three minutes ago. So these Liberal and National lemmings are going to vote to bring on legislation they have not seen, and they are going to vote for that legislation that they have not seen.

The amount of trust I have in this government to get this right hovers roughly around the level of zero, given its incompetence thus far. Frankly, this is also about good process—good, rigorous government process. We can argue about divestment and whether it's a good thing or a bad thing. We'll have that debate; we welcome that. But I'll tell you what I want to know: when will good government start in Australia? The now Leader of the House once used to believe in good government. I suggest the Leader of the House has a listen to these words, because he might find that they are words he would agree with! He has said:

Parliament shouldn't be about racing through legislation. Debate on important legislation like the Budget should not be shoved aside, it should take place in the Main Chamber.

He then said:

The Australian people expect Parliament to sit a full time schedule and consider all items diligently. A Coalition Government will not rush its Parliamentary agenda …

He was full of good ideas when he was on this side of the House, wasn't he? But it has all evaporated to nothing, just like their economic credibility.

We will have no part of this very poor process, and we will have no part of this very poor legislation either. We're not going to engage in your pathetic little stunts. If you want to debate this, we will debate it. But let the Australian people be clear: this is a low point for this government. This government has hit a nadir today. This Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government has done some pretty pathetic things over the last five years, but this one takes the cake: bringing on this legislation which is an excuse for inaction and which will make electricity more expensive. This legislation will chill investment and will make energy more expensive.

Where is the economic modelling? This government likes to ask other people for economic modelling. The legislation has only just been laid on the table of the House. I know that nobody has been through it. I know that the Treasury has just completely rewritten it, because the Treasurer had to make policy on the run because the Liberal Party and National Party backbenchers were in revolt. I dare say, if somebody goes through this legislation, they will find errors, and those errors will be on the heads of those opposite, because there will be no opportunity for the House to review the legislation. There will be no opportunity for industry and economists and experts to go through the legislation and point out unintended consequences. There will be no opportunity for people to have their say. The government wishes this legislation to be voted on today. It wants this House to just vote for it, sight unseen.

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