Leon Rebello (McPherson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australians deserve affordable energy and responsible emissions reduction, and the coalition believe we can do both, but affordability must come first. This is what families and businesses in my community tell me every day. They're desperate for a government that understands the pressures that they are facing, but, instead of relief, Labor has delivered an energy system that is failing. Prices are soaring, and the targets are pure fantasy.

Labor promised cheaper power—a $275 cut to your bill, I remember. Instead, under this prime minister, the average household is paying around $1,300 more. Energy prices have risen by almost 40 per cent. Factories are closing. Business insolvencies are at record highs. Investment is stalling, and emissions haven't moved an inch since the coalition left office. Labor talk tough on climate, but their results say everything. Australia's emissions remain at 28 per cent below 2005 levels, exactly where they were the day the coalition left office. In other words, Labor's emissions reduction has flatlined—all pain and no progress. Yet they continue to insist that their targets—physically unattainable, economically reckless and never properly costed—are the only way forward, and they want Australians to bankroll this failure, even as cost-of-living pressures bite harder than ever before. While families struggle to afford groceries and to keep the lights on, Labor are chasing headlines, lecturing Australians and approving fossil fuel projects they then condemn in public. The hypocrisy is staggering.

The Prime Minister is happy to export Australian resources to fuel foreign energy grids and drive global emissions, but he refuses to let Australians benefit from the same standard that he holds for the rest of the world. He forces higher power bills and unaffordable targets on our nation while criticising anyone who questions the price that we are being asked to pay. And now the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, the part-time energy minister moonlighting as an international climate frontman, wants you to trust him on a new 2035 target that experts say is built on spin and fantasy. The government won't release the costings. They won't release the modelling and they tried to hide the briefing that confirmed exactly what every family already knows: under Labor, power prices keep going up.

Australians have been let down. They deserve better than slogans, secrecy and promises that never materialise, and that's why the coalition has put forward a new energy plan, a practical plan to bring down costs, strengthen reliability and responsibly reduce emissions. Our plan focuses on results Australians can afford, not targets that Australia can't meet. We must restore reliability at the centre of Australia's energy policy.

First, we want to change the national energy objectives so planning is built around price, reliability and security, not political targets. Second, we will introduce the technology-neutral affordable energy scheme. It would support all forms of reliable generation: gas, hydro, batteries, coal and renewables in the right places. There's no ideology and no picking winners. It's just the affordable, reliable power that Australians need. This scheme would bring on new supply faster, keep existing reliable generation in the system until real alternatives are ready and crowd in private investment so taxpayers aren't forced to shoulder the burden.

Third, we will support more gas supply, fix regulatory delays and ensure Australian consumers aren't left behind in their own market. Fourth, we'll pursue energy abundance by removing the ban on zero-emissions nuclear technology, by protecting reliability and by using all of Australia's resources responsibly.

Finally, we will reduce emissions year on year in line with the Paris Agreement, through technology, choice, energy abundance and industry led innovation, not through taxes or mandates or by punishing families and businesses. Emissions reduction will be driven by technology and genuine progress, not political theatre.

Australians want affordable power and responsible action on emissions reduction. Labor has delivered neither. It's time for a plan that actually works. It's time to put Australians, Australian families and businesses first, not last.

See this speech in context