Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. In June, the Prime Minister said of the clean energy target: 'Well, it'd certainly work. There's no question it'd work.' But a government MP has said in today's Sydney Morning Herald, 'If we were going to do Finkel's clean energy target, it'd be done already.' Is the Prime Minister so weak he's letting a few backbenchers stand in the way of a clean energy target, a policy about which he said, 'There's no question it'd work'?

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

) ( ): The feebleness of the opposition is shown in this sort of question. There is no place for complacency or neglect in energy policy; the Labor Party has proved that comprehensively. The have made one mistake after another, and we're still living with the consequences. I referred a moment ago to the detailed Treasury analysis of the CPRS in 2012. There is no thought whatsoever given to the problem of storage. The reality is that energy policy in Australia has been labouring under a huge misapprehension. There has been a failure to consider storage and the need for backup. If you want to have a lot of renewables—

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Build some!

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

The member for Sydney says 'build some'.

Opposition members interjecting—

That's what your leader called 'the helicopter stunt'. That's Snowy Hydro 2.0. Give me a break! We're building the biggest renewable energy project since Snowy Hydro 1. The fact of the matter is this: a clean energy target, for its operation, depends entirely on its design. But if it is to be effective in delivering not just a reduction in emissions but affordability and reliability it has to have built into it measures which support dispatchability, base-load power, affordability and reliability. It's not an easy nut to crack. We've only recently had detailed advice from AEMO which shocked many people, particularly on the Labor side. We're working through it. We're going through it very, very carefully. We are not going to make the same glib mistakes the Labor Party did, the price of which is being paid by Australian families and businesses today.