Damian Drum (Murray, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

) ( ): As a proud representative of the Murray electorate, and a member of the Turnbull-Joyce government, I welcome the announcement of the National Energy Guarantee by the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Environment and Energy. There are many food processors and manufacturers in the electorate of Murray. These are big businesses that employ large numbers of employees, and they also are heavy energy users. These processors include SPC Ardmona, Simplot, Unilever, Campbell's Soup, Kagome, Geoffrey Thompson, Pental, Parmalat, Bega Cheese, Murray Goulburn, Fonterra, Ozpak and Freedom Foods, to mention some. They have all expressed some very real concern about a 43 per cent likelihood that Victoria is going to have blackouts this summer because of the closure of the coal station in Gippsland.

The government has gone to work in this area, getting the advice of the experts to put together the National Energy Guarantee. It will create a level playing field that will ensure all energies are part of Australia's energy mix, it will provide certainty for investors, it will reduce volatility within the energy sector, and it will be the end of the subsidies that are no longer needed.