Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Higgins for her question and I acknowledge her distinguished career, before she came into this place, as a paediatrician and as a researcher and as someone who understands the power of technology in solving hard problems. She knows that we have a comprehensive plan to bring down the costs of energy and to bring down emissions in this country. That plan includes the $3½ billion Climate Solutions Package; the $1 billion Grid Reliability Fund; price caps on electricity—the big stick; the Underwriting New Generation Investments program; and state energy deals like the recent deal we've done with New South Wales, the National Hydrogen Strategy, and many others.

The important point is that our plan is delivering. We've now seen for four consecutive quarters reductions in the CPI for electricity prices—for the first time ever—leaving more money in the pockets of hardworking families and businesses. We've seen five months in a row of sharp wholesale price reductions in both gas and electricity, which is freeing up cash for industry to invest in jobs and growth. From all of that, we are delivering a fairer deal for all Australians in electricity and more supply to ensure that there is reliability, particularly in states like South Australia, where we saw the impact of the previous Labor government's policies. And we will overachieve on our 2020 and 2030 emissions reductions targets, because we have a plan. In the lead-up to Glasgow later this year we will be laying out our long-term strategy, and central to that will be the role of technology in bringing down emissions while keeping the economy strong.

I was asked about alternatives. There is an alternative, and that is: a target without a plan. As Sam Maiden has written in her book on Labor's 2019 election campaign, members of the Labor Party during the campaign had come to refer to Labor's climate change spokesman, the member for Hindmarsh, as 'the grim reaper'. Now, the grim reaper destroys everything it touches: it destroys jobs, it destroys incomes, it destroys industries and it destroys communities—and certainly he destroyed the member for Maribyrnong's leadership! But the Leader of the Opposition hasn't learnt. He's done it again. He's adopted a target without a plan. We focus on plans—