House debates

Wednesday, 24 February 2021

Matters of Public Importance

Energy

4:01 pm

Photo of Rowan RamseyRowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Honestly, I can't believe this motion. I am really struggling. Energy and emission policies by this government are a spectacular success, and saying it ain't so does not make it fact. We are completely on target. We beat our Kyoto targets. We'll beat Kyoto 2. And, despite what the member for Bendigo just said about not meeting targets, we are on track to beat our Paris targets—a non-compulsory target that a whole host of countries, who puffed their chests out at the time, didn't even set targets for. But we will meet our target—a target, in fact, that the ALP are not publicly prepared to say they would commit to.

I should know a bit about energy policy. I come from South Australia. In 2016 we faced an absolute crisis when the Weatherill government—a Labor government, I might point out—pulled the rug out from under the Northern Power Station. They pulled 540 megawatts off the power grid overnight—just like that; snap—and our spot prices for wholesale electricity in South Australia that year soared to $108 a megawatt hour. In the five years that have passed since that time, through strategic government policies—these things don't happen in a vacuum—this year it's $35 a megawatt.

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