Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has said that the Minister for Climate Change and Energy will have 'unprecedented influence' in global climate negotiations as the president of COP31 negotiations. Why isn't this part-time minister, full-time president using this unprecedented influence to lower energy bills for Australians? And, Prime Minister, by what date will the average household power bill be lower than it is today?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for the question. I can imagine question time tactics discussions this morning, because there are about five different questions in there! But the opposition has two consistent points in there. One is the consistent position that those opposite have of always talking Australia down, including talking down Australia's national interests and the interests of the Pacific.

I spoke with Prime Minister Rabuka, Prime Minister Marape and other Pacific leaders last week. They are delighted that Australia and the Pacific will be able to play a role in international climate change engagement. I attended the G20 meeting in recent days. There, a communique was issued by every single country supporting the Paris Agreement, supporting a reduction in emissions and recognising that it's not a choice between a strong economy and sustainability—that, in order to have a strong economy, you need to deal with the challenge and the threat of climate change, which is real.

Since we rose just a couple of weeks ago, of course, we've had treaty negotiations with Indonesia. Indonesia is a place that is pretty important for Australia, one would have thought. Indonesia is looking at building a seawall around Jakarta. The decision of the COP to give Minister Bowen the additional position of being in charge of negotiations is something that I would have thought was pretty good.

I'll tell you about a meeting I had with someone over the weekend as well. I had a meeting with the OECD secretary-general, Mathias Cormann, who we backed to be OECD secretary-general and who we backed to get a second term. So both here and overseas we build Australia up.

The coalition talks Australia down. They don't have a plan; they just have a pamphlet. It's a pamphlet which is a continuation of the 23 policies that they had, and they didn't land one. It will, of course, lead to higher prices because less investment means higher prices. That is why it is friendless in the energy sector and friendless in the business community. That is perhaps why 'don't know' is the frontrunner to lead those opposite.