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

My question is to the Prime Minister. Next Wednesday marks the four-year anniversary of the day that the Prime Minister promised to reduce power prices by $275 in 2025—a promise made almost 100 times. On the final sitting day of the year, can the Prime Minister finally give a straight answer and just admit that he misled the Australian people?

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Order! Members on my left! I ask all members—

Government members interjecting—

Members on my right will cease interjecting! Members on my left, if any of that behaviour continues, people will simply be issued with a general warning. I ask all members to show more respect and decorum in the House and to follow the standing orders that we're all obliged to follow of not using props in the chamber.

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

The once great parties of the Liberal Party and the National Party are reduced. They've gone from being either the party of government or the party of alternative government to Play School, while the person who was deputy prime minister when they committed to net zero is outside doing a press conference, reporting his defection from the National Party. But, of course, they've come a long way since those golden days of caring about energy policy and the environment under Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce, when they stood up and committed to net zero, when they acknowledged that the climate wars were causing a failure of investment.

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

The member for Cowper is now warned.

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

My learned colleague up there, Phil Coorey, had this to say:

… in reality, the climate wars of the past two decades—

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

The member for Groom!

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

They're all outside watching you go down to 42! This is what Phil Coorey had to say:

… in reality, the climate wars of the past two decades, caused primarily by recalcitrance from the conservatives, is the reason why the energy grid today is such a dysfunctional and costly mess as it tries to play catch up.

That is what that radical journal, the Australian Financial Review, had to say!

Today, instead of having tactics committee meetings in the morning now, the coalition have the equivalent of a paper YoGo, trying to paper over the cracks, where the Leader of the Opposition, who doesn't support the policy she's been out there spruiking, supports net zero—and said she did from the day it was adopted—and half of those opposite support net zero and half of them don't, and where the National Party have proudly said they are now leading and the Liberals follow. This is what the leader of the Nats said: 'This isn't the first time the Nats have set the policy agenda and the Liberals have followed.' Indeed, that is right.