Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The CEO of one of Australia's energy retailers recently warned:

… the cost of this transition is really going to affect the people who can afford it the least, so people that are already struggling to pay their power bills are going to get slammed with more cost …

Prime Minister, why is the part-time energy minister, full-time president globetrotting around the world seeking to broker global climate conference communiques instead of helping struggling Australians at home?

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

Those are not conflicting objectives, because the global shift to net zero is a massive economic opportunity for our country, for our economy and for its people. I think if anybody is scratching around for a reason why those opposite are unfit for office, it's all these questions that suggest that Australia should not have an influential voice in the direction that the world is taking on energy. On this side of the House, we're providing electricity bill relief, we had the gas caps, we've got the battery subsidies, which are working extremely well, and we're introducing cleaner, cheaper, more renewable, reliable energy into the system.

If those opposite really cared about power prices for Australians, they would support our efforts to introduce that cleaner and cheaper energy. Also, if they really cared about lower electricity prices for Australians, they wouldn't have come up with this economic insanity of trying to run interference on an orderly transition to net zero in our economy.

Now, I'm asked about energy CEOs. I've made it clear that, whether it's Frank Calabria from Origin, the dozen energy retail CEOs who issued the report, Mark Collette from Energy Australia—

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

The member for Barker has asked his question. Cease interjecting!

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

or Damien Nicks from AGL, sensible, rational, responsible people all have the same view, which is that, if you care about energy prices, it's about cleaning up the mess that we inherited from those opposite when they let four gig go out of the system and only put one gig back in. We have been working away very urgently to try and introduce more of that cleaner and cheaper energy.

If they cared about energy prices in this country, they wouldn't be going out of their way to create this extreme investor uncertainty, which will weaken our economy.

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

The member for Cowper is now warned.

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

I say this to those opposite: it is a fair effort to have a less responsible approach to net zero than Scott Morrison did, but that's what they've achieved, and we know why they're doing it. They couldn't give a toss about electricity prices for Australians. All they care about is the internal politics of the coalition party rooms, and that's what we're seeing with this unedifying spectacle.

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

Has the Treasurer completed his answer? Yes. The member for Cowper was continually interjecting after he was warned. I'm feeling generous. I know you look like you're packing up, but I'm just reminding everyone that it's a definite signal not to interject once you've been warned.