House debates Matters of Public Importance

Energy

Tuesday, 15 September 2026 House of Representatives

Tony Pasin

Tony Pasin Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting for Fisheries and Forestry

3:53 pm

The member for McEwen says, 'You have.' I would never suggest, Madam Deputy Speaker, that in the chair you would do such a thing. But the truth is that those opposite have done this. And how have you done it? You've done it by pursuing this ideological renewables-only agenda, which has driven up the price of electricity.

During question time, we heard from those opposite seeking to blame the former owner of the steel mill, Mr Gupta, about his failure to undertake maintenance on the blast furnace. This was a situation where, quite frankly, in the state that experiences the highest electricity costs in Australia and in turn potentially the highest electricity costs in the world—and again, who do we have to blame for that? It's an agenda that is driven by those opposite, who want to drive up the cost of electricity not just for households but for businesses. We shouldn't be surprised—should we—that the businesses most likely to fail in that setting are those businesses that rely heavily on electricity and the cost of energy. Those really energy-intensive industries are going to fail first.

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