I'd like to acknowledge the contribution of the member for Riverina. In this new era where we're considering how we can make this place better, I'd also like to acknowledge that, following my first speech, the member for Riverina was the only member of the coalition who crossed the floor and shook my hand. He said, 'I didn't agree with many of the things you said, but I respect the way you said it.' I'd like to acknowledge that those words and those gestures do mean something, and I appreciate it. I'd also like to acknowledge his dad joke about the way that 'Labor' is spelt, and I'd like to point out that there is no U in Liberal. There is no U in Nationals, and there is no U in coalition, and there never has been.

He spoke about the importance of keeping prices down, and I think he should back the Domestic Gas Reservation Bill 2026 as a result. A national gas reservation policy is something that has been called for, for a long time by many members of the Australian public and many members of my community in Menzies. It's a scheme that has been in place in Western Australia for some time, and, as I said, there have long been calls for a similar scheme to cover the rest of Australia. Australians and people in my community recognise that Australia's resources—our gas—are a national asset. They belong to the people of Australia, and we recognise the important role that gas companies play in the exploration, extraction and processing of gas. We recognise, on this side of the House, that gas companies invest and take risks in extracting gas and that they deserve a return on their investment. But, ultimately, our natural gas resources belong to the Australian people, and they also deserve a return on it.

The domestic gas reservation policy will create a modest oversupply and put downward pressure on gas bills for households and businesses. Those opposite who are calling for cost-of-living relief and who are talking about the pressures created by higher energy prices should back this bill because it will provide cost-of-living relief. It's real, practical support for businesses, industries and everyday Australians. That's what this government is delivering through this bill.

Gas and energy more broadly are vital, of course, to local households in my community and to everybody's community here, in this place, as well as to our local businesses and industries. They literally keep the lights on. We use gas for cooking in many of our homes and in local restaurants. Induction cooking is improving, but my community has a large Chinese Australian community, and there's not really a replacement for gas when it comes to cooking in a wok. I know that there's some induction cooking, and we've seen some other technologies emerging, but a lot of people are still relying on gas. It's vital for manufacturing. It's vital for many industrial activities and for high-heat processes like steelmaking, glassmaking and heavy ceramics. And it remains an important firming fuel in electricity grids. There are other technologies coming online, but we're not there yet. It's also important to acknowledge that it is an important part of our export industries.

The bill that we're debating today was developed methodically by this government. That's how we go about developing our policies and our legislation. In December 2025, the government released the gas market review, which stated its intention to introduce a domestic gas reservation scheme, and this year we've undertaken extensive consultation with gas producers and exporters, with peak bodies, with manufacturers, with unions, with state and territory governments and with our trading partners. An exposure draft of this legislation was released on 10 September, and now we're bringing this bill to the House.

The scheme has two components. First, LNG exporters will be required to hold an export licence. Second, licence holders are required to contribute up to 20 per cent of annual exports to domestic gas markets. The amount of gas that's reserved will be determined by the Australian Energy Regulator to create a modest oversupply in order to put downward pressure on prices. This will ensure prices don't sink below levels which would disincentivise production or undermine our transition to renewable energy, which is something we're absolutely committed to. For LNG exporters with existing contractual commitments, these may be recognised through adjustment mechanisms. They'll be limited in terms of time and circumstances. There aren't blanket exemptions from the domestic reservation requirements.

To meet our commitment to net zero, this bill will enable the Gas Market Code to prescribe circumstances in which renewable gas or arrangements to reduce demand for gas may contribute towards meeting domestic supply obligations. There's also flexibility to take into account the different markets on the east and west coast. Importantly, the cost of administering the regulatory framework will be paid for by industry with a levy on export licences. While the scheme is not expected to have an ongoing impact on the budget, there may be a need for the Commonwealth to provide initial funding before the levy and other cost arrangements are in place.

Many people in my community are concerned about climate change—in places like Doncaster, Templestowe, Surrey Hills and Mont Albert—and they want us to transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewables. I've met regularly with people in my office, people around the community and groups like Menzies for Climate, the Australian Conservation Foundation Community Eastern Rosellas, Parents for Climate and Asian Australians for Climate Solutions. Sometimes, they come and demonstrate outside my office—as is their democratic right—and I appreciate their engagement, I appreciate them sharing their expertise, and I appreciate their passion and idealism. Our government is absolutely committed to the transition to renewable energy. We've got ambitious targets to have 82 per cent of the grid powered by renewables by 2030, and we're making real progress in that regard. We're doing this for a few simple reasons. We believe in climate change. We believe the evidence that's there from experts and scientists around the world. We want a habitable planet for the next generation. I've got children, and we've seen the increasing numbers of natural disasters that are driven by climate change and the effect it's having on our environment, like the increasing regularity and severity of bushfires. I want to ensure that my kids are able to enjoy the nature, the planet and the lifestyle that we had.

The member for Riverina implied that we were no longer backing working people, but the people who are going to be most impacted by climate change are going to be the vulnerable. They'll be the least capable of having the adaptation measures within their homes, and they'll be most affected by food insecurity, by rising sea levels and by having to relocate. We need to make sure that we're providing just outcomes for the next generation. We also recognise, though, that renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy. Again, this isn't something that we've come up with from an ideological basis. This is something that the experts tell us, and that's part of the reason why we're pushing ahead with the renewable energy transition.

It's also increasingly clear how important having that commitment to net zero and having the commitment to the renewable energy transition and addressing climate change is to our international relationships—to our middle power partners in Europe and Canada, with other middle powers and with our Pacific neighbours as well. It's allowed us to rebuild our relationship with our Pacific neighbours and, in some cases, allowed us to form stronger economic and defence ties with them. That's because we understand that climate change is an existential threat to many of our Pacific neighbours, some of whom will cease to exist with sea level rises.

In Australia, we also know that we've got a competitive advantage when it comes to renewable energy. We've got abundant wind and solar—the best wind and solar—resources in the world. Australians understand this as well. That's why we have the highest uptake of rooftop solar in the world. When you walk around suburbs in my electorate—I think in most of our electorates—you'll see solar panels all over the roofs.

Nationally, through our Cheaper Home Batteries program, we have installed over half a million solar home batteries. It's around 589,333, according to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy in question time. These are helping households store cheap solar power through our 30 per cent discount. That 589,333-plus number includes 3,639 solar batteries in my community. Recently, we visited Glen, a constituent of mine, who was kind enough to show us his whole solar home battery setup. He was very proud of the app on his phone, and he was able to show us where the peaks and troughs were. I think there's a particular kind of person who can be really proud of how much they're saving and can show you on their app minute by minute and day by day when they're feeding energy into the grid or when they're getting paid back. I was able to visit there with the Special Envoy for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience, the member for Jagajaga. Glen was able to talk very proudly about he was able to save money and about he's able to manage his household's energy consumption, keeping his energy bills low. He's also taking pressure off the grid and contributing to reducing emissions.

We're making real progress in the transition to renewable energy. On some days, renewable energy now accounts for more than 50 per cent of energy that's generated in the grid, up from 33 per cent in 2022—pretty significant gains in a short period of time. This is a result of the government's investment. The latest of the Australian Energy Market Operator's Quarterly energy dynamics report backs that renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy. Wholesale electricity prices are down 27 per cent compared to this time last year. They've been falling in every state—the lowest September quarter since 2021. For the first time, big batteries supplied more power in the evening peak than gas, so households with solar and batteries are drawing around 75 per cent less from the grid during the evening peak than households with solar alone.

We also want to make sure that we're seizing the opportunities of the renewable energy transition to become a renewable energy superpower. Figures released earlier this month show we've already had more renewable energy investment this year than in 2025, so we'll set a new annual record, and we want to leverage the competitive advantage that we have to create new green industries and rebuild our manufacturing capacity through things like the Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund and the National Reconstruction Fund, creating new industries around green steel, green aluminium and processing critical renewable energies and also clean aviation fuels.

But we know that gas still has a role to play. We're working on these things. We're working on the transition. But gas still has an important role to play in firming the grid. It is being supplanted by batteries—community batteries and home batteries—but we need to recognise that particularly in some of those manufacturing industries, the heavy industries, there's still no alternative.

We've also ensured that the Australian people are benefiting more from gas by reforming the petroleum resource rent tax. In the last financial year, the PRRT revenue increased by more than 26 per cent, rising from $1.48 billion in the 2023-24 financial year to $1.87 billion in 2024-25. This is the second-highest amount since reporting began.

Just as Australian households, businesses and industries are still reliant on gas, we need to recognise that many of our allies are as well. Japan, the United States and South Korea are all export markets for our gas. Just as we cannot ask the Australian people to endure energy shortages and blackouts and we cannot ask industry to close while we're making a renewable energy transition, we can't ask that of our allies either.

When the recent war in the Middle East broke out, causing the current international energy crisis, being a reliable supplier of gas became incredibly important for securing our own domestic fuel supply. While those opposite were fuelling panic and recommending things like fuel rationing—hoping that people would forget that, the last time they were in government, they let four refineries close—we took action. As the Treasurer said in question time today, we had a $15 billion fuel security package, including $1.16 billion for cleaner fuel programs. But we were also able to rely on some of the relationships that we've been developing in our region since we were in government in order to obtain further fuel by leveraging us being a reliable partner in providing gas to secure more liquid fuels and to secure more fertiliser with countries like Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia to make sure that we could keep our agricultural sector running and that we could keep other essential services like freight running.

This bill is another step in securing cheaper and cleaner energy. It will help Australian households, businesses and industries. It will ensure Australians gain greater benefits from our sovereign finite resources—our natural gas. This is something that Australians have been calling for for a long time, and this is something that the Albanese Labor government is delivering. I commend the bill to the House.