House debates Questions without Notice

Gas Industry

Monday, 7 September 2026 House of Representatives

Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister

2:59 pm

I support all my ministers, and I also support real action on climate change. I understand that, unless you have firming capacity, you won't have the expansion of renewables that is important for the transition. The Pacific Island leaders I met with certainly understood that. Pacific Island leaders praised Australia's work, and we are leading the nation. Last week, I was in Palau with the two ministers for the solar project that will power 25 per cent of Palau's energy needs going forward. It will make an enormous difference because it will mean less diesel use—important for lowering emissions.

One of the lessons of what has happened with the Strait of Hormuz and the Middle East conflict is that nations need to be more resilient. They need to be less reliant upon events internationally that, as we've seen, can be turbulent. In these turbulent seas, we have our eyes kept on the horizon, and that means being more resilient as an economy. That means making sure that we produce more of our energy needs here, which is why, whether it is the production or an increase in the use of renewables, or the firming capacity that's necessary for that to be rolled out—which has been critical for areas such as Tomago, which is New South Wales's largest energy user, making an enormous difference owing to the work that we've done together with the New South Wales government and with the company there—or the potential for—

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