Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is 2017, we are a First World country and, under the Turnbull government, the national electricity system cannot get cheap, clean power to people's homes when they need it to keep their fans and their air conditioners on. It may come as news to the Liberals and the Nationals, but there is actually a lot of sun that shines in Australia. Australia could do enormously well with solar power and with wind, except this government just wants to attack them. During a heat wave, solar plants actually do quite well, but what has this government done? It has cut the renewable energy target.

But it gets even worse. In New South Wales they are experiencing record heat waves. Over the weekend we had websites reporting that the 15 hottest places in the world were in Australia. What does the government do? Members of the government come in here, hold up a lump of coal, pass it around amongst themselves and laugh. The rest of the world knows that, if you burn more coal, you make global warming worse and that makes heatwaves worse and makes them come more often. But this government is so beholden to the fossil fuel industry and the hard right on the backbench that it does not care if New South Wales and the rest of the country burn.

But it gets even worse than that, because, when the Prime Minister is told the problem is not renewable energy, he says: 'I don't care. I will go out and lie to the Australian people.' This is the Prime Minister's 'children overboard' moment. This is when he knew what the truth was but decided to go and lie to the public to pursue an agenda—and he will meet the same fate. (Time expired)