Simon Kennedy (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Artificial intelligence is going to be as revolutionary to our society and our economy as the internet was. Generative AI is not just a new technology; it's an entirely new economic frontier. Right now, Australian businesses are already using this every day in their work—84 per cent of knowledge workers in Australia are already using AI tools in their jobs. This isn't about the future; it's happening now, but it will only accelerate. The opportunity is enormous. The Tech Council of Australia estimates AI could add up to $115 billion to our GDP by 2030. This is a global race, but, unfortunately, the sad news is, under the Labor government, we've already fallen behind. Let's be clear, AI and the AI economy do not run on buzzwords; they run on infrastructure, on skills and, above all, on energy.

Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, recently warned the US Congress that the energy demanded by AI could rise from three per cent today to 99 per cent of total power demand. Eric estimated that the US would need 67 more gigawatts by 2030—an absolutely staggering figure. McKinsey estimates the demand from generative AI could increase by up to 500 per cent by 2030. Other countries are responding. The US, the UK and China are all racing to secure reliable, industrial-strength energy for the next generation of our industries—AI, blockchain, clean manufacturing and nuclear. At COP29, the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany and Korea joined 31 nations committing to triple nuclear capacity by 2050. In the words of Eric Schmidt to US Congress, 'We need energy in all forms, and it needs to be there quickly for AI.' What is the Labor government doing? Nothing that looks remotely like a plan. Prime Minister Albanese and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy are playing with our energy system like children playing with toys—flicking switches they don't understand and pulling levers with no idea what they control. While Albo and Bowen play, we pay. We pay higher bills, we pay with lost jobs and we pay when global companies choose not to build here because energy in Australia is too expensive and too unstable. Under Labor, household bills are up by more than 20 per cent. Households in my electorate are paying more than $1,000 a year than they were three years ago.

Once, in 2004, Australia was ranked in the top five cheapest countries in the OECD for residential power. Today, we are ranked in the top five most expensive. Wholesale power prices are twice in Australia what they are in the United States. That's not just bad luck; that's the result of bad government. This is what happens when ideology replaces engineering, when targets become before transition and when the energy minister confuses press conferences with power stations.

Labor energy policy isn't setting us up for AI; it's setting us up for our economy to fail. Australia is on track to miss the AI revolution. This isn't just about tech; this is about whether Australia can remain a serious industrial developed economy. Will we still make things here? Will we host high-performance computing? Will we catch the AI wave of economic growth? Right now, under Labor, the answer is no.

This is a government that cannot talk about Australia's future because it's torching the energy grid that it must be built on. Australia doesn't need more reviews; it needs results. It needs plans that match ambition with capability in energy, in regulation, in skills, in AI, in tech and in execution. Generative AI is not just a technology shift; it's a shift in global power, and, if we want Australia to lead, if we want Australia to keep pace, we need a government that grows up and starts seriously investing in our energy system.

See this speech in context