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

The member for Hughes just said the Labor Party's leading the world on energy. We would settle just for leading Australia, because their energy policies are a trainwreck. Last week the ANZ CEO said the medicine of this transition could kill the patient. Who is the patient under the Labor Party? Is it Tomago, who went bankrupt? Is it Nyrstar, who went bankrupt? Is it the Mount Isa shelter, which went bankrupt? Is it Whyalla Steelworks, which went bankrupt? Is it Bell Bay, which is facing an $80 million loss? Is it the pensioner in my electorate who I had to introduce to Wesley Mission last weekend to pay his energy bills? If that wasn't a signal, yesterday this parliament was plunged into darkness—a blackout in the heart of Australian democracy. If that's not a sign that this energy transition is off the rails, I don't know what is.

I know the Prime Minister likes to quote a report that I'd written on the energy transition. Guess what? When the parliament returns I'm happy to break out the candles and walk over to the PMO and explain how you can actually reduce emissions and keep energy affordable. When prices are up 40 per cent, when pensioners in my electorate are coming to me for help to pay their bills, and when the bodies of corporate Australia and the Australian manufacturing industry piling up, that's not something you should be proud of; that's something you should be embarrassed by.

See this speech in context