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

I have received a letter from the honourable member for Farrer proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The failure of the Prime Minister to fulfil his promise to all Australians to reduce their power bills by $275 and the failure of the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, who is working part time, to deliver affordable energy for Australian households and businesses.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

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

We heard much in question time today about delivery—the 'D' word—from the Prime Minister and his backbench, many questions and many non-answers about delivery. But I want to remind the House what the Prime Minister has actually delivered this year. What has actually been delivered is: a higher cost of living, higher power prices and higher inflation. And, sadly, Australians are looking down the barrel of higher interest rates next year.

While we hear about the cost-of-living relief, there really is not anything that could come close to the pain that struggling households are experiencing, and I wish this Prime Minister and this government took these things seriously. Because instead of focusing on the things that matter, they are focusing on things that do not matter. The real issue that does not matter right now is the Minister for Climate Change and Energy and his traversing the globe in the interests of his new appointment as the full-time COP president, leaving behind a part-time energy grid. It is just not good enough.

We have a plan that is affordable and responsible—affordable energy and responsible emissions reduction—because that is how you bring down the cost of energy in this country. We want to focus on energy because we understand in the Liberals and Nationals that when energy is unaffordable everything is unaffordable. Look at the trifecta of failures that we are facing: prices are going up, reliability is going down and emissions are flatlining. That is a trifecta of failure.

While you look at the Labor party with targets they cannot possibly meet at a cost that Australians cannot possibly afford, you know that this energy policy is a train wreck. So instead of a minister dedicated to the task, what is he doing? He is receiving calendar invites from 180 countries in COP. He would be looking through them right now; he is not in the chamber. Where will he start? Maybe he will start with Azerbaijan because that is where the last president was from. And you might as well start with 'A' because there is a long list of countries to get through—180. He will check in with the president of Azerbaijan, and then maybe he will go to the Iberian Peninsula just to look at what happens to a full renewables grid when it crashes, but he will not see it quite that way. Then maybe he will squeeze in a visit to Davos for a fireside chat on hydrogen, over to Houston to lecture big oil, perhaps back to the Amazon, bring the band back together in Belem, and then triumphantly arrive at the end of the year in Turkiye. I don't know whether you arrive when you are a COP president. Maybe you have your entourage, there is pomp and circumstance—

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A yacht.

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

Who knows, Member for Hume, there may be a yacht. There may be all sorts of things. But what we know there won't be is a focus—the laser-like focus he said he would have—on power bills for Australians. And it was pathetic to listen to him say' wholesale energy prices may be coming down', because we want to see your electricity bill. When you open it, we want to see a real reduction and we want to see a government that cares about that real reduction.

How can we have an energy minister who is full-time? There is only one year before the next COP, there are 180 countries, so many countries and so little time.

Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He better get going.

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

Perhaps he is already on the way, member for Durack, because there is a lot of work to do. What a massive, massive failure. What we need to do is remind the Australian people, and I don't think they need reminding because they have heard these things from this Labor Prime Minister. He promised real and lasting plans for cheaper electricity, and they would cut power bills by $275. It was almost to the day—a couple of days—$275 this year, next year and every year. He promised that Australia could be the land of cheap and endless energy, that no-one would be held back, no-one would be left behind—and on and on.

Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We've never had it so good!

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

We've never had it so good! And do you know, with this $1 trillion debt—$50,000 a minute in interest on the national credit card, being so generous with borrowed money—you would think Australians would feel they had achieved something for this, but they don't. They are falling further and further behind, struggling, punished by a government policy that has not backed them in.

But do you know what we didn't hear today? We didn't hear a delivery about something very important that the Albanese government has not done. It has not done anything around its Made in Australia policy. I want to take everybody back to the Future Made in Australia announcement. Future Made in Australia was 18 months ago. We all heard that there was $22 billion, there was a front door—does anyone remember the front door? There was a front door—it's a new bureaucracy. You go through the front door and you get something that enables you to be a business, an organisation, a manufacturer of something made in Australia. So I thought I'd check it out. I went on the website. How much of the $22 billion has been spent on the front door? Zero. Do you know what's happening on the website? They're in the consultation phase. Eighteen months later, they're in the consultation phase.

The member for Hume, the member for Wannon and the deputy leader, who all understand energy really well, will recognise what I'm about to say. A few weeks ago I stood at Tomago Aluminium, in the same spot—I made sure it was the same spot—that the Prime Minister stood in January this year. He pointed to Tomago Aluminium and said, 'This is what a future made in Australia looks like.' He said that this aluminium smelter will be employing Australians for 40 more years, and he spruiked the big renewable energy transition. Anyway, when I was there, it was a completely different story. The Prime Minister was nowhere to be seen.

The Tomago aluminium smelter was switched on in 1983. It has run 24/7 since 1983. You can't turn a smelter off. Not only that, but it's pretty much the best aluminium smelter in the world. The member for Grey is nodding, because he knows. He's got smelters in his electorate, and they're all on life support, or they've run up the white flag. And we don't have Made in Australia; we have bailed out in Australia, because under this government's energy plan you actually can't make things in Australia. So you didn't hear, in the year of delivery, anything from this government about Made in Australia.

I'll tell you what we don't make in Australia anymore that we should be making in Australia. We don't make plastics—the sorts of plastics that go into packaging, agriculture and production. We don't make nitrogen fertilisers. We barely make any cement. We import nearly all our bitumen. We don't make any architectural glass. The housing minister's not here. She should be listening to this, because one of the reasons houses are so expensive is that everything in the house has to come from overseas, and everyone who was making steel and aluminium, glass and bricks has been punished by the safeguard mechanism under this government.

You new members should really have a look at this safeguard mechanism, because it taxes you if you make emissions. So, do you know what happens? Someone else makes the emissions somewhere else in the world. Does the planet know the difference? Unfortunately not. But what we see here in this country is that there is no Made in Australia. Do you all want to live in a country that doesn't make things anymore—the things that are the modern building blocks of a civilised society? Look at how they've gone offshore. In fact, it's been estimated by experts that you listen to that in order for you, the Labor Party, to reach your 2030—

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just direct your comments to me, through the chair, please. And fewer interjections from that side, on the government benches, would be helpful.

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

Chair—to reach the 2035 targets, it will cost $530 billion from where we are now—it's already cost $75 billion, and it will be another $530 billion—to get, notionally, to the 2035 targets. But $150 billion of business, industry, manufacture will have gone offshore. I don't think the Labor Party understands that, and I don't think they really appreciate what their energy plan is doing to the things that really matter in this country, the things we care about. I'll tell you what we care about. We care about households, we care about small businesses and we care about energy bills. We care about families sitting at their Christmas dinner wondering what's going to happen next year with back to school and all the costs that they're facing. We've got a government that has delivered a higher cost of living, higher power prices and higher inflation—and, unfortunately, the possibility of higher interest rates next year.

So we're coming back next year. We're energised. We're enthused. We're fighting hard for the Australian people, who are counting on us.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Casey on a point of order?

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To the assist the House, the member for Hughes continues to interject, out of this seat. It's highly disorderly—

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Take a seat! Honest to goodness, the interjections that were flying across—I have warned people—

Honourable members interjecting—

I think interjections are disorderly whether you are in your seat or out of your seat, frankly.

Member for Cook, would you like to leave the chamber? No? Then please be respectful of the standing orders. I'm in the middle of responding to your member raising a point of order. Would you like to continue your comments as well, member for Bowman? I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have these kinds of conversations with you. I barely got to hear every second sentence from the Leader of the Opposition; I would have liked to have heard much more of her speech. I will now hear from government members, and I will take it in turns. I'd like to listen to you all.

Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have the Leader of the Opposition taking the last MPI of the year in what sounded like a desperate leadership-saving speech. We have leaders on this side who don't need to make leadership-saving speeches because we're respected around the world as leaders. Australia is stepping onto the world stage with credibility and purpose, and those opposite cannot stand it. They cannot stand that Australia is respected once again as a powerhouse around the world for change and for good—that we have a government that understands both climate change and affordable energy, and that we're united, coordinated and actually delivering.

Instead of celebrating Australia's world leadership, the coalition is wandering around with their heads in the sand—sandhills filled with denial, delay, dysfunction and division. They're the Ds that the Leader of the Opposition should be talking about. The tail is wagging the dog, with the Nationals calling the shots, and the Liberals are letting it happen. Meanwhile, this government is building the modern energy system Australians deserve.

The Liberal Party once claimed it would 'meet voters where they are'. Well, Australians overwhelmingly support climate action, clean-energy jobs and cheaper renewable power. The problem for the Liberals is that they've walked away from every one of those priorities and are wandering in a wasteland. They abandoned their commitment to net zero by 2050—a commitment backed by business, by agriculture, by energy investors and by the vast majority of Australians. Just months after promising to stick with it, the Leader of the Opposition dumped the target entirely. They are so far away from where Australians are it's beyond belief.

Their argument that they can walk away from net zero while still honouring the Paris Agreement simply doesn't stack up. The treaty requires countries to show progression and ambition. Backsliding breaks trust, damages our credibility and holds back our national economic interest at the very moment that global markets are shifting. The coalition love to talk about power prices, but for a decade they refused to replace ageing coal plants they knew were breaking down and indeed closing down. When coal breaks down, your bills go up. Twenty-four out of 28 closures were announced on their watch. They left households exposed, the grid exposed and prices vulnerable—and now they want to lecture us on energy. Please!

Because of that, we're now playing catch-up on the fact that of the mere 23 energy policies they announced, they couldn't land a single one. Their new plan boils down to two fantasies: (1) coal will magically last forever, and (2) nuclear reactors will arrive overnight—never mind the cost, the laws, the timelines, the geography or the expert advice.

The experts are crystal clear: nuclear is the slowest, most expensive, least flexible form of energy. Every credible authority—the CSIRO, the Australian Energy Market Operator, Treasury—says the same thing: the cheapest new energy is renewable energy, backed by storage and transmission. The CSIRO's latest GenCost report confirms this again. No amount of political spin changes the economics or the facts, yet the coalition cling to nuclear like a life boat. Except it's not a life boat, it's a sketch on the back of a napkin. It won't deliver a single watt until the 2040s or the 2050s, and only after taxpayers foot a multimillion dollar bill.

They claim they'll cut subsidies for renewables, but what they're really cutting is the cheapest energy available to Australian people. Investors know the truth. In 2024, two-thirds of global energy investments went to renewables. The market has chosen, and the coalition hasn't noticed. While they fantasise, we deliver.

In just a few years, the government has supported around 1,000 Australians a day getting behind the wheel of a cleaner, cheaper-to-run EV or hybrid. We've just recorded the strongest year ever for electric vehicle sales. Big batteries are coming online at record speed. Transmission upgrades are underway across the country. Renewables have hit 50 per cent of the national grid for the first time. In September, renewables hit 70 per cent for half an hour on 81 per cent of days. We've green lit 111 renewable projects, enough to power more than 13 million homes. More than 1,000 home batteries are installed every day; there are more than 500 new solar households every day. That means that one in three households now has rooftop solar, more than four million installations. More than 120,000 household batteries have been installed since July alone.

We're also reforming the energy market so consumers come first. That means stopping sneaky price-hikes by capping retailers to increase one a year, ensuring no customer pays above the standing offer when their discounted plan ends, banning excessive fees, guaranteeing fee-free payment options and putting a stronger obligation on retailers to support hardship customers. Our Solar Sharer plan will also require energy retailers to offer three hours of free electricity each day during the peak solar generation period.

This is real reform, real action flowing directly into people's homes. We're not stopping there. We've launched the Solar Saver retail offers. We've made home batteries cheaper. We've capped gas prices. We've delivered bill relief, and wholesale electricity prices fell by a third last quarter.

The Australian Energy Market Commission has warned that delays to collecting renewables and transmission will push prices up. That's why we're pushing ahead, not dragging our feet like those opposite. Let's not forget, when we came to government, the coalition had kept hidden from the Australian people a 20 per cent electricity price rise. They hid it from Australians and they want to lecture us about energy costs.

Under the coalition, emissions flatlined for a decade. Under Labor, we're already 29 per cent below 2005 levels and tracking towards 42 per cent by 2030. We've delivered the biggest fall in non-land emissions ever recorded outside the COVID lockdowns. And now the world is taking notice!

Australia has secured the presidency of COP31, not just a seat at the table, but chair of negotiations. Do we remember the empty rooms the former prime minister spoke to in Glasgow? That will not be us. We will be leading global climate negotiations from the end of COP30 through to COP31 in partnership with our Pacific family. We'll host a Pacific pre-COP. We will elevate the voices of those most vulnerable to climate impacts. We'll help shape the global agenda and Turkiye will host the summit in 2026—a partnership built on trust, respect and real diplomacy.

This is leadership. This is what it looks like when a government takes climate and energy seriously. This is what it looks like under the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, who I believe is the strongest minister the portfolio has ever had, supported by an exceptional team, including the member for Fremantle and the member for Jagajaga.

The opposition want Australians to be stuck with unreliable coal from the 1970s, nuclear reactors that won't exist for decades and rising power bills. Labor wants Australia to become a clean energy superpower with investment certainty, good regional jobs, energy security and cheaper, more reliable power for households. That's what Australians want. It's what they deserve, and it's what they will get from an Australian Labor government—an energy system that works for them, not one mired in chaos, denial and division. We will keep going. We will keep building. The coalition can either come with us or keep their heads in the sand, where they can only dream of the coordinated and wonderful action that this side of the House is taking.

The Labor Party cares about Australian people. We know where they are, we know what they want and we are here to deliver it.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, it is disappointing. I was looking forward to hearing from the Minister for Climate Change and Energy on this MPI about energy, but I understand he's quite busy. He has other activities. He has something else—

Opposition Member:

An opposition member interjecting

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He has to go look up Tripadvisor for Azerbaijan, yes. Although I must say—

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I just remind the House about the disorderly conduct of interjections.

Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hit a nerve, obviously. You're hearing a lot about unity. They're breaching unity. As they say, beware those that protest too much. We saw the reports this week about the member for Parramatta. He's being shaped up as the new energy minister. He's going to fly in and save Minister Bowen, because he's quite busy at the moment.

So I thought: what does the potential minister, the member for Parramatta, think about nuclear energy, because the minister was happy to talk about nuclear energy? Let me quote something that the member for Parramatta wrote prior to politics, when he was free to say what he thought. As we know, the Prime Minister sent that warning across the backbench, and, as we know, you're not individuals—you don't have your own views; you just follow orders. That was the warning the Prime Minister sent to his backbench.

So what did the member for Parramatta say when he had to freedom to say what he really thought about energy? I'm going to quote the member for Parramatta:

… nuclear power will be an essential weapon in the fight against climate change. For one thing, nuclear is cheaper and more reliable than renewable energy.

Well, there you go. That was the member for Parramatta's contribution when he was able to give his contribution. He also said:

Nuclear power is, on many criteria, also better for the environment than currently available renewable technology.

Potentially, the member for Parramatta has visited agricultural land that is being destroyed by all these regional transmission lines and renewable power. Potentially, he's visited those pristine forests that are being destroyed for new transmission lines and for new energy generation that is happened all across regional Australia. That is perhaps the reason why the member for Parramatta believes that nuclear is better for the environment than renewable energy.

I want to give some credit to the member for Hunter. The member for Hunter at least has the courage to stand in this House and say what he really believes. He spoke recently on energy and net zero and said that he would back any technology that stacked up financially, including coal and gas. He said he'd back any technology that stacked up financially. So we've got at least one member of those opposite that cares about their community and making sure they have affordable power, because that is the priority. You have to make a choice about what you focus on.

The coalition are very happy to say we will focus on affordability and reliability for the Australian people. As the son of someone who was raised by a single mother, I'm not going to ask any single mother in my community to pay a dollar more for power than they have to. They deserve the right to have the cheapest power possible to power their house, turn the air conditioner on if they want to and make sure they can feed their family.

I spent a decade working in the food industry. Energy is at the heart of every food product that is made in this country. It is in the cool rooms and the retail stores of the retailers that sell it. It is in the transport that gets it there. It is in the production of every product that is made by a food manufacturer in this country. It is in the raw materials that they have to pay more to buy. It is in the packaging that they use. It is in the gas that they need to create these products.

When we talk about cheaper energy, we are talking about cheaper prices for every product in the country, and, at a time when this Treasurer cannot control inflation—it is at 3.8 per cent and getting worse—I have no problem standing in this House to fight for cheaper energy for my community and for every community across the country. It is a shame that those opposite have to follow orders and are happy to say to their communities: 'We do not care about prices. We are not worried about making sure we can bring prices down. We will follow the orders of the Prime Minister and Minister Bowen. If we don't we'll end up like the member for Chifley, the member for Isaacs or Senator Payman, who is no longer a member of the ALP because if you disagree you're kicked out.'

Ali France (Dickson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I completely understand why those opposite are so triggered and confused by our Minister for Climate Change and Energy's success on the world stage. Those opposite haven't seen success like that for years and years. This MPI really is a little bit embarrassing, right? Getting an exclusive role for Australia as President of Negotiations for COP31, closely directing the world's response to climate change, is something that those opposite could only dream of. It will give Australia the power to appoint cofacilitators, draft negotiation texts and issue decisions. Representing Australia on the world stage is in our national and economic interest. We understand that on this side of the House. Our neighbours in the Pacific are pretty happy with this appointment along with the pre COP meeting in the Pacific.

We also know that serving ministers in other countries have held the same position previously. Actually, if those opposite had done their research, they would find that seven out of 10 since Paris in 2015 have been serving ministers. One actually was a Prime Minister. While we know that those opposite might find multitasking quite difficult, rest assured our minister can walk and chew gum at the same time just like the previous seven ministers from other countries.

The opposition seems to absolutely love talking Australia down, but what this is really about is the coalition's absolute opposition to any action on climate change. What we're seeing here is what you could call the Nationals effect. The Liberals drop net zero to make the Nationals happy, and now they're talking Australia down to the world. Australians at the election made it very, very clear they want cleaner, cheaper, renewable energy. Most industrialised nations have committed to net zero emissions. Governments are setting ambitious targets and investing in cleaner technologies, and consumers are demanding more sustainable practices. Big businesses have shifted to net zero practices because if they want to be competitive and save costs they absolutely must. What would hurt Aussie families would be walking away from the table like those opposite have walked away from net-zero—shame! That would scare off investment, prolong ageing and unreliable coal and push up power prices.

Renewable energy is not just an environmental choice. It is an economic necessity, embraced by families right across this great nation. The Albanese Labor government is delivering a responsible energy plan that creates jobs, provides business certainty and lowers emissions. We have acted to provide three rounds of power bill relief, and we've capped gas prices and invested in cheaper renewables—all of which those opposite have opposed.

Wholesale electricity prices fell by a third last quarter. Nearly 140,000 homes and businesses across the country have installed batteries through our Cheaper Home Batteries Program, storing their sunshine, powering their homes and saving money off their bills. It's worth noting that the electorates with the highest uptake of rooftop solar are not necessarily the inner-city seats that you might expect but overwhelmingly regional and outer-suburban communities, many of them held by those opposite and the Nationals. Those households know it cuts bills and delivers cheaper, cleaner energy.

In his address to this year's COP, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy made clear that net zero is the engine room of global economic growth. Australia is leading, with a 2035 target of up to 70 per cent emissions reduction, record renewable uptake and partnership with Pacific neighbours. My message to those opposite is: Do better. Be for Australia, not against us.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This time of year, as we tend towards Christmas, we all think about those who are less fortunate than us. We think about the struggling pensioners who are making tough choices about how they are going to make ends meet. They want to give presents to their grandchildren. They are looking at mounting bills. The electricity bill comes in and, as it rises by up to 40 per cent, they have to make tough choices. Some families and households have to make choices about whether they buy food or afford rent or pay their electricity bill or turn on the air conditioner. The same decisions are made by low-income earners and those on a fixed income. It's a challenge all around the country.

So, while I understand the hectoring from members of the government in defence of not delivering on their $275 reduction on electricity bills, the lived experience of Australians from this is real. There are so many Australians who are doing it tough right now through cost-of-living pain and, instead of getting a $275 reduction in their electricity bill, promised by the Albanese government, they've lived with the reality of increases by up to 40 per cent. Small businesses are struggling. We have record small business insolvency. They've seen increases of their electricity bills by up to 80 per cent.

It is no surprise that so many small businesses and so many households are doing it tough. We got data this week from the Australian Bureau of Statistics that talked explicitly about the problems with inflation. Despite the Treasurer crowing previously that he had combated inflation and we had gotten to an end, it persists. Also high interest rates are persisting. That's when people face tough choices about their future.

It's easy for the member for Dickson to get up in this parliament and say, 'Yes, there is more rooftop solar on houses in some coalition seats.' I do accept that. Part of the reason is that people in low-income areas in particular live in apartments and they don't face the same options and choices as people who own their own homes. This is a debate about making sure low-income earners have choices and are able to afford fair pathways. People who live in apartments don't have those same choices, particularly when they can't afford upfront costs. I know the member for Dickson's answer when we have problems with cost-of-living pressures is, 'Let them eat solar batteries, let them eat solar panels and let them eat asbestos filled wind farms,' but that is not the answer. People need financial relief, and the only solution the government has is expenditure to push prices up. This isn't a plan that Australians need. Their answer is to just constantly talk about an energy transition that does not do what they claim it will do, which is push down prices.

What we need is an energy addition which actually contributes to the future of our country by building new energy. Yes, we need to be technology neutral. We need to build a pathway for new generation that takes advantage of our existing networks and distribution and, of course, factors in emissions as well. That's because the best pathway to achieve lower emissions is to lower energy prices. When people cannot afford their electricity bills, concern around emissions falls by comparison. It's always been thus. It's a failure of this government to understand how important the link between energy prices and support for emissions cuts is. They go hand in hand.

At the last election, the Australian people went and took on trust that this government understood these important issues, but what's become increasingly important for so many Australians is how much the government is blind and deaf to their concerns, how blind and deaf they are to the real financial pain that people are living. Their only answer has been to spend more money and borrow from the future to use debt spending and push up inflation, which has only perpetuated the problems that Australians are now living with. We just heard it from the members for Dickson, Cooper and so many other electorates. When Australians are saying that we need to confront the problem of electricity prices, the answer has been: let them eat solar panels. Let them eat batteries. Let them eat asbestos filled wind farms.

This is not right. We need a pathway where we can get Australians to cheaper bills through energy addition. We need a pathway that gets cheaper bills now. More importantly, the cost of not doing so forces people on low incomes, which once upon a time the Labor party claimed they represented, to continue to live with the suffering and pain not just this Christmas but beyond and into 2026—and it won't be a happy new year.

Matt Smith (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The world is changing. The delivery of energy is changing. Whether you like it or not, it's changing. It's happening now. Coal-fired plants are done. Twenty-four of the 28 that closed did so under the watch of those opposite—finished. We understand there have been cost-of-living pressures. It has been a rough six or seven years, particularly for my electorate of Leichhardt. COVID hurt us. The inflation that jumped out the bottle afterwards hurt us more. It was at seven but is now 3.8. We are delivering on cost-of-living relief. We understand what Australians need. We also understand the opportunities that net zero presents to us: manufacturing, mining, the entrance to the world stage as a global power, a superpower for renewable energy and a leader in our region. This is a national security issue.

The Pacific has never been more important, and those opposite sell them out every single day. It is disgraceful. The water shall not lap at the doors of our nearest neighbours, but let me tell you of the Torres Strait, Australia's most northern part, a beautiful place filled with beautiful people. Just this week the wakaid, or council of elders, from the island of Badu came down to talk to us about health. Uncle Bongo Sagigi, leader of the council of elders, spoke to me of climate change. When I visit Masig and Saibai, they tell me, 'We do not want to see our cemeteries inundated, the bodies of our children washed away, the bodies of the ancestors gone.' That is what net zero is about. That is the betrayal of Australia, of Australians. They deserve better. They deserve recognition. They do not deserve to have the water lapping at their doors. They do not deserve their cemeteries washed away. They do not deserve to mourn their children washed into the ocean.

When you do not accept net zero, when you turn your back on them, you turn your back on Australia. If you betray one Australian, you betray them all. It is disgraceful. It was 2015 the last time any executive from the LNP went to the Torres Strait. You do not ask or seek out their advice. You don't care. You leave them alone to fend for themselves. Minister Kearney has sat with the elders on Badu. She has sat with the elders on Horn. She has sat with the elders on Thursday Island. Minister Wilson travelled to Saibai, sat with the elders and understood. Labor has committed over $74 million in seawalls. We are protecting our people, and we are working with the reef, the guardianship and the climate change excellence centre based on Thursday Island to create resilience for a world that is changing, for a world that you guys have left behind. We are getting on with it. Those walls are being built right now. They should have been built 10 years ago when Masig started to be inundated. But where was the opposition? It was nowhere—hiding.

Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Making jokes.

Matt Smith (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Making jokes—well, yes. You got your social media platform, didn't you? You got to hang out your little signs. Are you going to Masig? Will you speak to the elders? You will not. You can't even spell these places. You can't locate them on a map. You care little for these people—a people who have been here for generations, for tens of thousands of years, who have protected and taken care of their country, who have fished those waters, who have loved that salt water. The octopus god, Malo, lives there. And you betray them. Every time that you let the Nationals talk down net zero and every time that you take down renewable energy you betray the Torres Strait and everything that they stand for.

Simon Kennedy (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last weekend I conducted almost 30 listening posts in my electorate, speaking to members from all across my electorate. I had a pensioner who could not pay his energy bill. We introduced him to Wesley Mission, and Wesley Mission paid his bill so that this man could continue to cool and heat his house and continue to cook food. There are pensioners in my electorate forced to make choices no pensioner should have to make—between paying an electricity bill or feeding him and his wife or between paying their car, filling up their car, or seeing family and friends.

It's not just the pensioners. I was recently at FJP Manufacturing. In just two years, their electricity prices have gone up over 70 per cent. Their gas prices are up over 50 per cent. Phill, who runs it there—great guy, works incredibly hard—is a huge supporter of manufacturing in Australia and a huge supporter of trades. He's watched the number of his tradies go from seven to three, and he's worried it's going to zero. He talks about their declining revenues and their increasing costs, and he worries they're going to close that manufacturing plant one day and instead just turn it into another set of apartments. What will we make in this country?

I worry because energy prices are up 40 per cent in just three years. While emissions are down 28 per cent since 2005, energy prices have more than doubled, and it's not surprising. We have a government that is obsessed with emissions targets. They're legislating for 2030; they're setting 2035 and 2050 targets, but where is the price target?

I'll take the interjection. If you're obsessed with the cost of living, where is your energy price target?

Ali France (Dickson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Caps that you opposed.

Simon Kennedy (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Why won't you legislate an energy price target? You're running for the hills. You made one mistake in 2022—promising $275 off people's bills. We all know how that has gone. The pensioner in my electorate, the manufacturer laying off tradies—they are living the reality of this failed energy policy. Instead, you love the emissions targets, but you won't set a price target. You're running for the hills as fast as you can from $275 off bills. I would love it if you were able to come back—

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will resume his seat. The Chief Government Whip, the member for Lalor.

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that the member be asked to direct his comments through the chair and stop directing them straight at people.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the government whip. Member for Cook, direct your comments through the chair. There were a couple of points where you were directing questions to the bench on my right. For everyone, just ensure that all comments are made through this chair.

Simon Kennedy (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We heard the previous members talk about wholesale energy costs. I'm not sure whether they just don't understand or they're intentionally misleading the Australian public, but wholesale energy costs in New South Wales are less than half the bill. They're 40 per cent. But do you know what, Deputy Speaker? Australians don't pay 40 per cent. They don't just pay the wholesale costs. It's great to hear wholesale costs are going down, but Australians pay the full cost. They pay 100 per cent of their bill.

Every time we hear the Minister for Climate Change and Energy talk about wholesale costs dropping, which he did three or four times today, it's less than 45 per cent of the total bill. What the pensioner pays in my electorate is 100 per cent of his bill. So I would ask the energy minister to start talking about total costs. Stop talking about the small part that's decreasing and actually talk about total cost, which we all know—which every person and every business in my electorate knows—continues to go up. It's time to either understand what a bill is made up of or stop misleading the Australian public.

This week, we were plunged into darkness in Parliament House. I would ask that this energy minister stops plunging the Australian economy into darkness, killing Australian industry and running our manufacturers off this shore, and starts doing his job.

Alice Jordan-Baird (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm really excited to speak on today's MPI. What interesting rhetoric we've heard in this chamber today! If the opposition thinks that leading the global transition to clean energy means that the Minister for Climate Change and Energy is only working part-time in his role, it clearly has no concept of what preparing Australia for the future and securing lower energy prices for the long term actually entails. We know that the coalition is not interested in preparing Australia for the future. They made that abundantly clear when they dumped net zero, against every piece of expert advice and even against consistent findings that included the cost of transmission and storage renewables being the cheapest form of new energy generation. We knew it when they were responsible for a three per cent reduction in Australia's emissions over nine years of government. We knew it when they said they'd solved the clean energy transition and then proposed to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on bringing nuclear energy to Australia.

We know that they're not interested in doing what it takes to secure Australia's future. Otherwise, they wouldn't be objecting to Australia's Minister for Climate Change and Energy doing his job of not only representing Australia's interest in energy and climate at the highest level but grasping a rare opportunity to lead the discussion and help write the rules at COP31. This side of the House understands that reducing energy prices at home and tackling climate change is not something Australia can do on its own. In fact, the only people who think global energy decisions have nothing to do with Australian bills are those opposite. They don't realise that the energy situation we're in is a global issue. I applaud the Minister for Climate Change and Energy for going above and beyond in his advocacy for Australia's interests in energy and climate.

We on this side of the House have always supported advocacy for Australia's best interests on the world stage. When we were in opposition, our party didn't just sit there grandstanding. We actually celebrated when the government was able to achieve real outcomes for Australia, which it did in some aspects of trade and diplomacy. So I'm really disappointed that those opposite have reacted in this way and that they haven't been able to put political pointscoring aside to recognise this rare opportunity for Australia to write the rules of energy transition. They're so focused on trying to tear this country down instead of building it up.

The constituents of my electorate are profoundly hardworking. They often work long hours while juggling commitments to family and community. Every day, they go to work in hospitals, schools, factories, public transport networks and shops. For those opposite to speak with such contempt about this government's action on climate change is an affront to my community because my electorate knows that, if we don't act on climate change, we all suffer.

If those opposite truly think that climate change won't affect working people, they are delusional. It's already increasing the severity and regularity of extreme weather events, which makes work more dangerous and more difficult. It makes it more difficult for the person working in train-track maintenance, sweltering in a heatwave. It makes it more difficult for the nurse that's treating more and more respiratory conditions which are related to poor air quality. It makes it more difficult for the small-business owner seeing ingredient prices rise because crops have been decimated by flooding.

They claim to care about costs. During their decade in government, they had more than 20 different energy policies. At the last election, they proposed to waste billions of taxpayer dollars on a nuclear pipedream. The fact is that they have no idea what a long-term plan to reduce energy costs for Australians actually looks like. Sustainability doesn't mean just environmentally friendly; it also means economically viable. When we say we are building a sustainable energy system, we mean that we are building an energy system that is environmentally friendly and economically viable—two things the coalition's policy is not.

On this side of the House, we understand the bigger picture when it comes to net zero and the clean energy transition. We understand that reducing the cost of living and making the transition to clean energy are not two different propositions. We have taken and continue to take significant steps to reduce household costs. We're taking strong action to provide energy bill relief to Australian households and businesses.

As we head in the Christmas break, what have the coalition achieved? They've spent most of this year fighting amongst themselves and badmouthing each other. We've seen little tangible policy or meaningful scrutiny from them at all. Today they lost a member! If they want to know what it looks like to represent their constituents and Australia's interests part time, they only need to look at themselves. We on this side of the House, our government, will continue to work full time on building Australia's future. (Time expired)

Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have a crisis in this country. We have a crisis in this country on energy affordability, and we're staring down the barrel of a reliability crisis too. There are families sitting round the kitchen table right across Australia right now, from Berwick to Brisbane, from Melbourne to Mallacoota, and they are staring at an energy bill stuck to their fridge, wondering how they are going to pay that bill right now. This government has promised nearly a hundred times that we will see a $275 cut in yearly energy bills. They have not been good to their word.

There are 200,000 Australians on energy hardship plans as we speak. I spoke to one energy retailer about a week ago, who said they're getting around 150 phone calls every day from people across their database seeking energy bill relief. They are seeking hardship plans. They cannot pay the bills that they have in front of them. And that is a crisis. It is a crisis for our food banks. It is a crisis, as the member for Cook said, for charities and volunteer groups that are set up to help people at very, very difficult points in their lives.

This is an avoidable situation. Labor have induced a crisis that we're seeing in pricing Australian businesses out of the game internationally. It is hurting blue-collar workers in regional jobs. It is putting our manufacturing base so far behind the eight ball that they've got to work extra hard and extra smart just to catch up.

We've got an energy minister who very kindly came back to the parliament this week. He's been traversing the globe, lecturing other countries. Given Minister Bowen's track record in Australia, you'd think he'd be best placed to talk to other countries only about how to flatline their decarbonisation efforts, only to pontificate about skyrocketing energy bills or maybe to share a few hot takes on how to use taxpayer funds to prop up a couple of select technologies while flatly resisting calls to put every available option on the table.

I do hope, though, that, while clocking up carbon miles, Minister Bowen might take the time for a sideline chat to listen to what representatives from a few other countries, like France, Canada, Japan, India, Turkiye—I could go on—might be able to share with him on how to achieve energy reliability, energy affordability and energy sustainability. Minister Bowen might learn a few things, like how you can achieve all of those objectives on the table without shutting down coal early and while putting your foot to the floor on gas and making sure all options are on the table. That last bastion of conservatism, the Starmer Labour government in the UK, has seen under its watch what will be one of the largest nuclear power stations built in Europe. Meanwhile, in Australia, our businesses are struggling to keep their heads above water.

I went to a major meat-processing business in my electorate last week. They employ 140 local people. This business is part of a sector that plays a critical economic role nationally. It is essential to my region. I met with this business, and the first thing they talked to me about was their energy bill. It's out of control. Over the last 12 months alone, electricity costs for this business have increased by 22 per cent, and they've increased by 27 per cent across the last 24 months. Gas prices have escalated even more significantly, rising 27 per cent in the last year alone and 46 per cent over the last two years. Combined gas and electricity costs for this business have surged by 24 per cent over the last 12 months and an extraordinary 35 per cent over the last 24 months.

This is outrageous. This business is not Robinson Crusoe with its energy pain. It is an epidemic of escalating costs, and the government keeps telling Australians that we've never had it better. There's no news on when this government is going to deliver on their broken promise of $275 bill relief. Blue collar workers are hurting. Regional Australians are hurting. Working Australians are hurting. They deserve so much better than this government.

Basem Abdo (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those opposite love nothing more than talking Australia down. While this government is strengthening our energy system, lowering wholesale prices and rebuilding our reputation in the world, their only instinct is to sneer, to undermine and to oppose.

With our family in the Pacific, Australia has just secured unprecedented influence over global climate and energy deliberations. In 2026, Australia and the Pacific will co-host a special pre-COP, giving Pacific leaders and communities the global stage they deserve and ensuring the world sees the impacts and solutions of our region firsthand. That outcome strengthens our security, strengthens our economy and strengthens Australia's standing in the world, and the only response from those opposite is to try to tear Australia down. If your only focus is political pointscoring, you will never act in the national interest.

We have an exceptionally strong climate and energy team. Teamwork, of course, is a foreign concept to those opposite. We've taken real steps to help: three rounds of energy bill relief, a gas price cap, and major investment in cheaper renewable energy while rebuilding a reliable modern grid after a decade of neglect. The Australian Energy Market Commission could not be more clear: delaying the connection of renewables and transmission puts upward pressure on electricity bills. This is where the opposition has completely lost the plot.

They walked away from net zero. They walked away from investment certainty, and they walked away from Australia's place in the world. What they're really saying is that Australia should sit quietly and accept whatever the world hands to us. This government believes Australia should help write the rules, and that's why our minister has been asked to lead COP negotiations. We are Australia; we don't aim for second place. Those opposite can explain why they do.

Our policies are built around Australian families and Australian industry. They spoke about manufacturing. In my electorate, the Ford factory delivered generations of secure, well paid work. When the industry needed support, the Liberals attacked our automotive industry. They issued ultimatums. They questioned its commitment and dared it to leave. And when Ford, Holden and Toyota shut their doors, those opposite applauded their exit. So, when they suddenly proclaim their love of manufacturing, when they get all hasty and lean their elbows against borrowed cars, we will not forget how they attacked Australian families, Australian jobs and Australian industry. And we will take no lectures from them about ministerial focus.

Under this government, ministerial roles are transparent. Under theirs, Scott Morrison secretly swore himself into health, finance, Treasury, home affairs, and industry, treating ministries like Pokemon—'gotta catch 'em all!' The member for New England knows a thing or two about extra roles. Now he's off to join the circus that is One Nation, which is fitting, because they've always got a job for a clown in that reactionary outfit, and he comes cheap—really cheap. It took a sandwich press steak to get him over the line. I saw it came with a bit of Saxa salt. Imagine if it came with a bit of mushroom sauce—the big, tasty cookout with the cookers. You tasteless, tasteless bunch. Every coal breakdown, every bit of energy pain—it all comes on the back of their decade of denial. While this government takes action to reduce bills today and reform the market for tomorrow, those opposite choose slogans over solutions. Here's the contrast: while they sulk, fight, hold press conferences during question time and divide, we deliver.

In the past year alone, we've delivered for Australian families. That's what this is all about—Australian families and Australian industry. This is about a $9,000 pay rise for minimum-wage and award workers, for Australian families; 24 weeks of paid parental leave with super on paid parental leave, for Australian families; and energy bill relief of $150 for every household, for Australian families. This is about a $10,000 bonus for housing apprentices, for Australian families; 30 per cent off home batteries, for Australian families; and paid placements for nurses, teachers and social workers, for Australian families. This is about aged care pay rises, expanded bulk-billing, a five per cent deposit for first home buyers, a 20 per cent student debt cut and, from 1 January, all PBS medicines being at $25 or less, for Australian families. That's what we fight for—Australian industry and Australian families.

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

The discussion has concluded.