Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) | Hansard source

It's wonderful to see the member for Bruce and those opposite are committed to gas. It is good to see. As a candidate, the rhetoric before the election wasn't quite as strong, but they're there now. They've seen the value in gas. It is wonderful to see. I look forward to them continuing to support the industry moving forward, although I do note that, when the resources minister made her announcement, a few of those opposite were very nervous about that decision and there were a few that did decide to speak out. I will watch with interest when more bills come up on gas, particularly if they look to restrict gas, given we've seen the newfound freedom that the caucus has to speak out and potentially cross the floor if they don't agree with something. So it's good to see those opposite passionately defending gas. Hopefully, their colleagues who criticised the decision at the time will rethink what they do.

We cannot get to net zero by 2050 without a combination of everything being on the table. As a coalition, we've talked about a renewables-gas-coal transition to renewables-gas-nuclear to make sure we have that base-load power. We hear those opposite talk about investor certainty. Just 50 metres from here, the Tech Council of Australia are having their tech showcase. I was talking to one of the data centre companies there—I've spoken to many data centre companies across the country in the last two years in this role—about the need for greater energy supply because data centres take a lot of energy. AI, as a new technology, requires significant amounts of energy. That's before we include population growth coming in to the country and manufacturing continuing to grow—hopefully; it's struggling under this government but will need to continue to grow.

Those opposite should understand that investors know there will be greater demand for energy. We will need every lever. We will need renewables absolutely. We will need gas absolutely. We will continue to need to look at nuclear and be prepared to have a mature conversation, because as many scientists, including Alan Finkel, the former Chief Scientist, have said, nuclear power is the only zero emissions, base-load, reliable power that exists at scale in this country. Hydroelectricity is not possible at scale in this country because of our geography and topography. The reason gas is also so important in that mix is that it provides peaking power that can come on. For many industries, including an industry I was lucky to work in—the food manufacturing industry—prior to politics, there is no energy source other than gas that can be used to cook the food, to cook the chips, to cook many of the products. Industry needs gas. So it is wonderful to see those opposite are now on board.

But there are a couple of concerns, particularly about the price of gas. In Victoria we have a state Labor government that are opposed to gas, and they argue openly with federal Labor. Hopefully, federal Labor can start to get control of state Labor. These are the consequences of not having enough gas in the industry. I want to quote from a local resident of mine, Cecil, who emailed me. He said: 'Just received our gas bill. Double the price. Now $582. How does this PM in Canberra think pensioners are going to stop from freezing this winter? The last thing I want to hear from him is "I know things are tough at the moment."'

So many in my community rely on gas for energy, but they also rely on it in an emergency and to build redundancy into the system. I'm concerned about this push for electrification of all houses and of all networks. In June 2021, my community was devastated by the June storms, which left my family and me without power for three weeks. But that was nothing; many in my community were without power for three months. But I know for a fact because I lived it. We could stay in our home because we had gas. We had a gas cooker and gas hot water and we were able to get a small generator to give us a little bit of power at night for the lights.

That's why we continue to need gas in the system. We're going to electrify houses and, with EVs, there will be more demand. There will be so much pressure on the electricity system moving forward that all options need to be on the table. The government is not prepared to have a mature, visionary conversation and look 10, 20 or 30 years into the future.

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