Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to my friend the member for Bennelong, who, of course, won an important seat in 2022 off the Liberals and, in 2025, had to win it again on the other side of the pendulum. He received such an overwhelming endorsement, in part, because he understands that climate change is real. He understands that moving on climate change is not just a challenge but an opportunity for Australia. That is why we've legislated for net zero by 2050 and the safeguard mechanism. That's why we have the Capacity Investment Scheme growing the renewable energy industry. That's why the vehicle emissions standard is cutting emissions on our roads. And that's why the Cheaper Home Batteries Program has installed over 44,895, to be precise, batteries in homes.

We're backing renewable energy because it makes sense for our economy. It's the largest economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution. And we have everything we need to make the most of it right here in Australia: the best sun, wind and hydro in the world and critical minerals—Australian industries backed by Australian resources. We're making all of this progress despite what we inherited when we came into office. We know that, on the former government's watch, 24 out of 28 coal-fired power stations announced their closure. They did absolutely nothing about it. They had 23 failed energy policies over a decade but didn't implement any of them. Over $600 billion of taxpayers' money was promised to build nuclear power stations, to be ready sometime in the 2040s. They want to go back to denial and delay, but Australians don't want to go back. Australians here certainly don't want to go back, business doesn't want to go back, and their old friend the former minister Mathias Cormann—who is now the Secretary-General of the OECD, and we congratulate him on his re-election—doesn't want to go back either.

Those opposite, of course, are having a review, but today we know that Senator Canavan, the person in charge of reviewing net zero for the Nats, has announced that he's introducing a bill in the Senate to abolish it. So he's reviewing it, but he's already going to legislate to abolish it. To mirror the member for New England—spoiler alert!—I reckon the review's going to say it should go. That's what we see: the Liberals fighting with the Liberals, the Nats fighting with the Nats, and the Liberals and Nats fighting each other. Meanwhile, what we will do is fight for Australia. (Time expired)

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