Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Independent Pods is a Geelong business that employs 18 people. They make polystyrene blocks for house insulation. They have written to my office asking a very simple question: how can small business survive? They've detailed that their energy bill has increased by 117 per cent. From the start of May to the end of May this year, Independent Pods were charged almost $19,500. They told me that a year ago, in May 2017, their energy bill was just $8,500. The director of Independent Pods, Ross MacDonald, said:

Independent Pods is a relatively new business … looking at expanding its production and as a result its employment opportunities. However the drastic rise in electricity costs (virtually doubled from 12 months ago) provides us with significant challenges to absorb such a cost increase and remain sustainable and compromises our ability to invest in our growth.

The property manager for Ross's business is Patrick Rowan. He says:

These prices of electricity—some businesses are going to be unsustainable and jobs are going to disappear because of it—it's going to impact our economy.

Winchester, another company in Moolap, have seen a 217 per cent rise in monthly energy bills within a year. They employ 66 workers. I was at Winchester back in March talking to them about the skyrocketing costs of energy for their business.

We already know that the Turnbull government's National Energy Guarantee is grossly inadequate. Malcolm Turnbull's 26 per cent emissions target plan will lead to a collapse in renewable energy investment. It will cost thousands of renewable energy jobs and it will stifle the inevitable transition to renewable energy which is already underway. That is the legacy the Turnbull government has left to the people of Geelong over the last five years. What Australian households and businesses need to reduce power bills, to reduce pollution and to have energy security is investment in renewables, which will only be driven by Labor's commitment to a 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030.

A report released this year by electricity sector experts RepuTex confirms that the government's 26 per cent emissions target under the NEG will have 'a negligible impact in driving any new renewables investment', whereas a 45 per cent emission reduction target would drive renewable energy investment up to 50 per cent of generation by 2030.

Only Labor is committed to a 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030. Only Labor will move to restore certainty to the large-scale renewable energy industry. Only a Shorten Labor government will work with industry, unions and other stakeholders to develop a plan for the orderly transition to renewables. Only Labor will look after the workers and communities affected by the modernisation of our electricity generation system. More renewable energy leads to lower prices for consumers and for small businesses.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Corio for his contribution. Time and time again you will see members of the House come into this chamber and the chamber below and speak about identical topics. We are living in an environment where the National Energy Guarantee is topical, and it is a topic which resonates with both sides of the House with the most utmost passion. What both sides of the House agree on is that we're both in pursuit of downward pressure on electricity prices, because it is those who win that argument, who can prove and deliver, who give their party the best opportunity to govern at the next election. That's the hardcore reality.

The other reality is when we go back to our electorates. You stand and you commit to a 15-minute conversation in a town hall with 500 in the room and you start talking about the National Energy Guarantee. By the time you've got to the end of your opening paragraph, most of the room are rolling their eyes over it and have tapped out. Unless you are across it, it is a complicated and in-depth topic, and I don't profess to be. I have been speaking about it and trying to understand it for the last month.

When I speak in those town halls, what do I get back from my constituents—constituents like Mal and Glenn Abbott, who are irrigators from farms in my electorate? I remember Glenn Abbot telling me a story once. He went to the letterbox, grabbed his electricity bill and opened it at the letterbox. He was sitting in his Toyota and he had to open the door—he was physically sick to see the increases in his bills. Quite an animated description, but it gives a sense of how urgently the public want us to deal with this. We just have a different mechanism as to how we're going to get there. The previous speaker articulately outlined that Labor has a policy that looks at 50 per cent renewables. We have a greater mix, where we see coal as a sufficient baseload power source that will be part of the generation source into the future.

I want to speak about the spot price and some of the inequities that arise as a result of the spot price. If I have 100 megawatts that I want to procure, and I get the first lot at 80, and I get the next lot at 40 and the next lot at 60, ultimately, in a reverse auction I have to pay everyone the exact same price. There is market failure. This government is about setting to right that wrong.