Zhi Soon (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to make the most of the global move to cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy? How does this compare to other approaches?

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate the question from the member for Banks, who brings a great deal of experience, expertise and collegiality to our team, and I thank him for his contribution.

The key conclusions from the detailed Treasury modelling that we've released are that an orderly transition to cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy will boost investment, lift living standards and strengthen our economy. That's why it's a golden opportunity for our economy, and that's why it's our policy. A really important part of this, and a really important part of making our economy more productive as well, is making it easier and faster to build more reliable renewable energy. That's why our EPBC reforms are good for our environment and good for the economy, because they'll help attract the investment that we need in an orderly energy transformation.

The alternative to this is a disorderly transition, which would create investor uncertainty and would cost our economy dearly. The Treasury has made it clear, in their modelling document, that the only thing worse than a disorderly transition to net zero would be the policy that we think that they have now agreed to—the only outcome worse than a disorderly transition would be if we abandoned net zero entirely, which is what those opposite are now calling for. Abandoning net zero would be economic insanity of the highest order. What they are contemplating over there would be economic extremism of the very worst kind. What this shows is that their extremism isn't just some kind of phase they're going through; it's now their permanent state. That is the most divided, most divisive, most extreme and least credible opposition in memory.

But, while those opposite are divided, this government and this Prime Minister are delivering. A considered, orderly, responsible transition to cleaner, cheaper, more reliable energy is an important part of our economic plan, and there's a good reason for that. That's because this will strengthen our economy and create more opportunities for more Australians, and that's what this side of the House is all about. That's because we are a mainstream government, delivering for the people who send us here, and we won't be distracted by the daily madness that we see over there.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, members on my left.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hear those opposite interjecting. I mentioned 'economic insanity' before. The dumbest thing we could do as a country would be the policy proposal that the shadow Treasurer took to the last election, which was to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on nuclear reactors which would push energy prices up, not down. The difference between this side of the House and that side of the House is that we are working through these issues in a considered and methodical way to invest more in cleaner and cheaper energy; those opposite have gone absolutely crazy, and the economy would pay a price as a consequence.