Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

West Street at Umina Beach is one of the busiest spots on the Central Coast on a Saturday morning. It's a bustling hub on the peninsula and you can always tell what matters to local residents and businesses by spending a couple of hours there at one of the great local cafes or by standing up on a street corner. Last Saturday, I was there with my team to talk about the coalition's upgrades to local roads including Ryans Road and Davis Street at Booker Bay. These are critical local upgrades but, even so, one issue overshadowed them in many conversations we were having, and the issue, not surprisingly, was energy. It's a fact that businesses across the Central Coast need access to affordable and reliable power. That's why the National Energy Guarantee announced by the coalition government from the recommendations of the Energy Security Board is so important.

The new National Energy Guarantee will deliver more affordable and reliable electricity while meeting our international commitments, give certainty to investors and encourage investment in all forms of power. The guarantee will lower electricity prices, making the system more reliable, encouraging the right investment and reducing emissions without subsidies, taxes or trading schemes. Unlike previous approaches, we are not picking winners but levelling the playing field. Coal, gas, hydro and biomass will be rewarded for their dispatchability while wind, solar and hydro will be recognised as lower emissions technology but will no longer be subsidised. Importantly, the guarantee builds on our existing energy policy, which delivers to retailers offering consumers a better deal, stops the networks gaming the system, delivers more gas for Australians before it's shipped offshore, and the commencement of Snowy Hydro 2.0 will stabilise the system.

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

It being 8 pm, the House stands adjourned until 12 pm tomorrow.

House adjourned at 20:00