Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on the importance of affordable energy and lower business taxes for jobs, wages and the economy, including in my electorate of Hughes?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question and note his lifelong commitment to supporting small business and enterprise in the electorate of Hughes and around Australia.

One of the most critically important factors for every business, every household, is affordable and reliable energy. Over the last week we have announced our commitment to Snowy Hydro 2.0. This is carrying on the great vision of the founders of the Snowy Mountains scheme, the courageous men and women from every country in the world who came out to Australia after the horrors of the Second World War and worked together and built an engineering marvel. We have some of those mountain men here in the gallery today—Charlie Silvestro, Gianni De Bortoli, Tom Frece and Ervino Bertolin—as well as Charlie's wife, Sue, who also worked with Snowy Hydro. What an amazing team.

Dr Mike Kelly interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Eden-Monaro.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They and so many thousands of others like them had the vision to build a Snowy Mountains scheme, and part of their plan was pumped hydro. They knew the opportunity. They did not see, perhaps, the future of solar energy; perhaps they did not see that. But they knew that storage was going to be important, and those plans were drawn up and have been there for over 30 years—plans to add thousands of megawatts to the capacity of the Snowy Mountains scheme. One scheme alone, Tantangara to Talbingo, which we will build—27 kilometres of tunnel—will deliver 2,000 megawatts of additional generation: base load power, renewable power, energy that makes renewables reliable. The Labor Party, in their reckless ideology, pursued a 50 per cent renewable target but with no idea how to provide the backup or how to provide the storage. What is going to happen to the base load? 'We'll just keep switching off,' they thought, 'That's a good idea.' What happens when the wind does not blow? Labor had no idea and no plan for that. We are putting those plans in place. We are going to develop Snowy Hydro 2.0 and build on the work of the men women with us today and of thousands of others like them. Their courage, their conviction and their vision will build on that. We will make renewables reliable. We will build the secure energy future for all Australians.

Mr Khalil interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Wills is warned!

Mr Snowdon interjecting—

Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting—

The member for Lingiari and the member for Hunter might stop interjecting.

Mr Frydenberg interjecting—

Mr Khalil interjecting—

The Minister for Energy and the Environment will cease interjecting. The member for Wills is warned.