Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

I'm very fond of those ones! I'm very fond of them. I even know who they are, unlike some of the ones who wander in here!

This is a strange little motion. It's largely statements of obvious fact:

(a) natural gas is a key pillar of the Australian economy which employs … people …

(b) natural gas is connected to more than five million Australian homes—

true—

(c) natural gas is essential to Australia achieving its net zero target by 2050—

tick—

(d) Australia has a critical role in providing a reliable source of natural gas to trusted trading partners—

tick—

(e) regional Australia has benefitted enormously—

And so on. That's lovely. That's good, isn't it? Then there's this wacky plot twist when you get to part (3), which drifts into comedic irony. I couldn't call them hypocritical. I could note gross hypocrisy. That's okay in the Fed Chamber. We've done this a lot before. It's okay. It's a comment on the substance of the matter. But, anyway, we won't go there. We'll stay with 'comedic irony'. The motion:

(3) urges the Government to take urgent action to provide policy certainty which allows the industry to bring on the new gas supply needed to address forecast shortfalls, ensure Australia's energy security, and rebuild investor confidence.

Policy certainty, ensuring Australia's energy security and rebuilding investor confidence? Let's have a little chat about those things. First is policy certainty. Let's be clear. Every sensible economist, every energy analyst, every investor and every energy company says—and everyone except those opposite knows—that the No. 1 reason for rising energy prices in this country over the last decade has been a complete lack of policy certainty. The latest brain fart of an energy policy from these champions of the private sector is to borrow untold hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money, reinventing socialism in their nuclear power fantasy. The No. 1 reason that we haven't had private sector investment in new supply is that, for nine miserable years, they couldn't tell the investors what the rules were. Here's a free tip for those giants of capitalism opposite. The private sector need to know the rules to make an investment. Instead, in this decade of decay, division, dysfunction and despair, they had 22 different energy policies. They've just released their 23rd, making 23 in a decade—genius! There was no investment because of the lack of rules.

If we're going to talk about certainty, under their watch 24 of Australia's coal-fired power stations announced they were going to close, and they did nothing. AEMO and the ACCC consistently warned about the risk of gas supply shortfalls. Ironically, the coalition put out press releases welcoming the rise in investment here and there in renewable energy, all of which flowed because of the targets put in place by the former Rudd and Gillard Labor government. That is what led to renewable energy. Pretty much the only new energy they got investment in was because of the Rudd and Gillard government. Energy for them was just a culture war.

The member for Gippsland—and I do wish him well in his recovery—is a real authority on gas. He was a cabinet minister in that train wreck of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government. Remember the gas-fired recovery, Deputy Speaker? It was a failed policy that directed millions of dollars of taxpayer funds to their gas industry mates, with literally nothing to show for it. They had 22 energy policies—now 23. They dropped the resources minister out of the cabinet. If you were going to have an emoji for that, would it be 'face palm' or 'head explode'? Actually, what I just said isn't quite true, is it? They had a secret resources minister in the cabinet, the former Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. He had a secret portfolio that he told no-one about.

An honourable member: Busy boy!

He was. They changed the rules before they left government, to cover up the price rises. It was an absolute disgrace.

But I'll tell you what you don't do if you want policy certainty and energy security in Australia and to rebuild investor confidence. You don't whack investor confidence with a ridiculous, risky nuclear fantasy—the most expensive form of new power. Their plan is to push up our prices in about 20 years when they get around to building something. It's genius, isn't it? It's too expensive and it's too slow. And you know what? It's not even a policy. It's a pamphlet. It's four pages with a picture of a Rolls-Royce nuclear power plant they cut and pasted from the internet. Imagine if Labor had released a policy with no costings and a picture from the internet. Unbelievable.

The most damaging impact, though, ironically—we'll end where we started—is the impact on investor confidence because of this mob's behaviour.

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