Matt Gregg (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I see the coalition remained unencumbered by self-awareness as they provided that lecture on the running of the economy! They raised a number of topics in their MPI, including tax returns, from the party that proposed increased taxes at the last election; higher spending; higher debt; higher deficit—well done, coalition; and electricity bills, from the party that caused policy paralysis for nine years and continue to eat themselves over the very topic. The reason we have higher-than-desirable electricity bills is years of policy failure to ensure that the supply of electricity meets demand. It's a simple supply-and-demand problem. But, instead of having a coherent, consistent set of policies, we find a chopping and changing of 20 different policies over a relatively short period of time.

They talk about business. How on Earth can business invest in the clean energy future if there is no policy certainty? It is the worst possible thing you could do, no matter what direction you're in, to ensure there is investment in energy. They held up coal. They even wore coal as make-up in one case, but they didn't actually make any new coal-fired power plants. They didn't increase the supply of electricity. There were three gigawatts less of coal-fired power when they left than when they went into office. So, even as coal lovers, they were terrible at their job.

Now, we find ourselves in a situation where we need to rapidly deploy technologies to ensure an electricity supply that is sufficient in amount, that is low enough in cost and that we can rely on going into the future. So, instead of finding the policy that says 'renewables only'—they forget about the fact that we've got batteries that pump hydro and that are backed by gas. They go to war on a policy that doesn't exist, and then they promote a policy of their own that also doesn't exist.

We had an announcement of nuclear last night, but we don't know if net zero is there, because we're waiting for Matthew Canavan's no doubt independent and well-researched report on the future of net zero. We have to ask: what does that do for industries and households? That policy paralysis means that we are not getting the investment we need, and haven't had the investment we've needed, in this sector for a long time. Thank goodness a Labor government has been elected. We can provide policy clarity.

We, unlike the opposition, are not so arrogant as to think that we're smarter than AEMO, smarter than the Treasury and smarter than pretty much every other expert in the energy space—who confirm that the cheapest form of energy is renewable energy. We're deploying it at pace, along with the safeguards to ensure consistency of supply and reliability. We're investing in gas supply. We're making sure that pumped hydro is being rolled out. We're making sure that battery technology is being utilised, and households have voted with their feet: 104,000 homes have thankfully ignored the side show and decided to invest in battery technology. They know that storage of renewables is the cheapest way to power your home and the cheapest way to power your business, as long as the settings are right.

People are getting off the grid, and they're not paying higher power bills. People in my electorate, and in electorates all over the country, have been voting with their feet. It's exciting to see a government that is finally committed to a sensible energy policy that maintains coherence in the energy space and gives business the certainty it deserves.

In their MPI, the opposition talked about mortgage repayments. They are forgetting that inflation was sitting at about 6.1 per cent when we first came to office. It now has a three in front of it, and we've had, I think, three interest rate reductions in the last year.

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