Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Sovereign Capability) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Across this nation, families are sweating—not just because they can't afford to run the air conditioner, but because they fear the next power bill landing in their letterbox. Small businesses are closing—not from a lack of customers, but because their energy bills have become the silent partner taking the biggest cut. What kind of economy is Labor running when a cafe can afford coffee beans but can't afford the electricity to boil the water? Australian manufacturers aren't being beaten by better products. They're being beaten by competitors with access to cheaper power overseas and a government that makes them pay more to produce less. And, through all of this, Labor has gone to war with the very industries that keep this country running. They've demonised gas, and now they're trying to write coal out of Australia's economic future.

Paget is one of the most important industrial precincts in Australia, and it sits in my electorate of Dawson. It's the largest industrial hub in Queensland, outside the south-east corner. Every day in Paget, thousands of highly skilled workers design, build and manufacture the heavy machinery that keeps our mines operating, our exports moving and our national economy afloat. If Paget stops, the coal supply chain stops. If the coal supply chain stops, billions in export revenue completely disappear. It is the engine room of regional Queensland.

Let's not forget our future industries. Hydrogen doesn't appear from thin air. Its production requires a lot of energy. Critical minerals don't refine themselves. Advance manufacturing doesn't run on hope. They all rely on the energy backbone of coal and gas. Every engineer, every economist and every serious energy analyst knows this. The government knows it too, but they won't admit it. So I ask: why is Labor so eager to destroy the industries that pay for everything else?

The future of our economy will not come from weakening the industries that have made it strong. It will not come from strangling regional hubs like Paget or vilifying the people who keep the lights on. It will come from energy that is affordable and reliable—that means gas, it means coal and, yes, it means nuclear.

Let's talk about gas. I'll put this plainly: Australia does not have a gas shortage. This government has a vision shortage. We have the gas, but we don't have the leadership to extract it. Eastern manufacturers are paying international prices for Australian gas. Households are paying energy bills shaped by export indexes, not national supply. By gaslighting the nation, the Albanese Labor government has turned rhetoric into reality. The east coast faces looming blackouts due to intermittent supply shortfalls and surging costs.

We need a coordinated national gas infrastructure strategy, a shovel-ready blueprint that treats gas as strategic capability and an economic enabler, not as an afterthought. Australians are being let down by this government. They were promised cheaper power. Instead, household bills have skyrocketed by 40 per cent. Australians were promised a $275 decrease in power. Instead, they're paying around $1,300 more. This government said that net zero would lower power bills. Instead, it has pushed them through the roof and delivered no meaningful emissions progress—none at all. Emissions today are exactly the same as when the coalition left office. So, after three years of slogans, nothing has changed, except power bills going through the roof.

This government loves to hurl insults at anyone who questions their failing policies. But every general knows that where the flack is the thickest you're right over the target. We know we are on target with the coalition's cheaper, better and fairer energy plan. The question is no longer whether Labor's plan is working. The question is, will the government admit the truth before it's too late?

I would like to acknowledge Mr Carl Walker, who's in the gallery today. Carl is a friend of mine and the chairman of Bowen Gumlu Growers Association. He's been the chairman for quite some time. We would really like to thank you for everything you've done, not just for Bowen Gumlu Growers but also for agriculture within Australia. You're outstanding.