Rowan Holzberger (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak against the motion. When the member for Wannon moved this motion originally, in the last sitting of parliament, I'm not sure that he was really watching the state of play of the Liberal Party leadership because, had he worked out that the member for Hume, the former minister for energy, was going to be the Leader of the Opposition today, he might not have wanted to talk about failures in energy affordability and also policy transparency. I think that he's been saved by a quirk of the standing orders that he at least had the opportunity to speak on it under the former leader, saving himself the discomfort of speaking to it under the current opposition leader, who I think more than anybody else is responsible for the failures in energy affordability and has practised policy opaqueness, to put it politely, more than any other practitioner in this parliament.

The motion here is an opportunity for me to talk about two of the things which I think are the most important things in the economy, and they are affordable housing and affordable energy. Indeed, I think it is the history of postwar Australia, the economic miracle that was postwar Australia, that governments, both Liberal and Labor, believed in cheap public housing and cheap public energy. It is really what drove Australia's economic success story, and Labor and Liberal both agreed to the point where I can say—this is a bit of a surprise to people—that one of my economic role models was in fact a Liberal premier, Thomas Playford, who was the Premier in South Australia from the forties to the seventies. Labor premiers and Liberal premiers and leaders around the country invested in public energy and they invested in public housing, not out of the goodness of their hearts but because they knew that providing cheap energy meant keeping the cost of living down, which took the pressure off wages, which helped business. It was the secret to Australia's success.

There's somebody else who I might quote to also shock people a little bit, and that is the former member for Dickson, Peter Dutton, who I think summed it up quite well when he said that energy is not just part of the economy; 'Energy is the economy.' And I can't attribute this to anybody, but I did hear it somewhere—it's certainly not my original thought, this one. But somebody said that the 19th century was very much about coal and steam, the 20th century was about oil and the internal combustion engine, and the 21st century is going to be about electric motors and renewable energy. At each point of those new energy sources, we have seen living standards rise dramatically—just as, with renewable energy and electric motors, we're going to see material abundance, material wealth, beyond our wildest imagination.

What we see today, though, is a divergence from that agreement around what was sensible, what was scientific and what worked. Whereas we agreed post war on economic and energy strategy, for some reason the coalition has gone off on a complete tangent and is now, on the other hand, supporting the most expensive forms of energy: coal and nuclear. I really am looking forward to the next election, which I believe is going to be about energy. It's going to be about renewable energy, firmed by gas and batteries—the cheapest form of energy—or it's going to be about the most expensive form of energy, which is coal and nuclear.

I can't work out why they have got this ideological obsession with the most expensive forms of energy. They have linked in their minds that renewable energy somehow means agreeing that climate change is human induced and they just cannot bring themselves to do that. Unfortunately, that failure to accept reality, that failure to work together on energy policy, just as Labor and Liberal governments did in postwar Australia, is going to cost Australians, just as the failure of the current opposition leader, when he was energy minister and during his 10 years of inaction, is responsible for people paying higher electricity prices today. Labor is fixing it. Labor is fixing it with the most sensible approach, and I just wish the opposition would join us rather than trying to score cheap points.

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

People in the Berowra electorate are hurting. The ABS CPI data revealed last week that in the 12 months to January electricity costs have surged an extraordinary 32.2 per cent. That means families in suburbs like Waitara, Asquith, Normanhurst, Glenhaven—indeed, right across the electorate—are opening their bills at the kitchen table and wondering how they're going to make ends meet. My electorate is still waiting for the government to deliver on its broken promise of a $275 reduction in their power bills. They are still waiting. This gets raised time and time again with me as I'm out and about in the electorate. By failing to lower prices, this flailing government has broken its most basic promise to the Australian people.

This summer too many in my community have had to choose whether to put the air conditioner on or to put food on the table. Katherina from Beecroft has showed me copies of her power bills. In the November quarter in 2024, she paid $940 in electricity. In the same period one year later it was $1,189. That's an increase of $249 in a single quarter, and if you extrapolate this it is basically an increase of $1,000 a year. Families were promised a $275 reduction and instead they got $1,000-a-year increase. This is the Albanese government's legacy.

I've seen power bills for a small business in Thornleigh. In January 2025, they paid $312 for power; in January 2026, they paid $604—nearly double. That's affecting the viability of businesses across the electorate. How is this the new normal under Labor? What troubles people the most is not just the size of the increase, but the sense that all of this was avoidable. Australia is not a country that is short of energy. We're blessed with resources. We've got the capacity, the expertise and the workforce to power our own economy reliably and affordably, and yet households and businesses are paying more and getting less certainty. Right now, too many Australians feel they are part of an experiment. They are being asked to carry the cost of decisions that haven't delivered on the promised outcomes. It's not good enough for families, and it's not good enough for the small businesses that I represent.

Under the coalition, Australia outpaced much of the developed world, cutting emissions by 28 per cent on 2005 levels while growing the economy. But emissions reductions have flatlined since we were in government, despite more than $75 billion in spending, but prices have surged. Energy policy has to be about cost and reliability. This government has dropped the ball. Energy should be a comparative advantage for Australia. We are a resource-rich nation. We export energy to the world, yet increasingly Australians are paying the world-leading prices for a basic necessity. It's not a failure of geography; it's a failure of policy. We need to ask a basic question: how did the country that exports vast coal and gas, that has vast renewable potential, that has world-class engineers and operators end up in the position where families are rationing power. Until the government is prepared to admit that its approach has consequences, real consequences, for families and businesses, the pressure on my community and communities like mine will continue to mount.

A new Canstar survey has provided some alarming data following the expiry of Labor's temporary energy rebates. It reported that, of 3,000 respondents surveyed, 72 per cent had seen an increase in their power bills since the end of the rebate, 18 per cent are now struggling to pay their bill and 12 per cent have had to sacrifice to pay the bill. They've had to sacrifice what? School excursions, family outings, insurance cover and even basic groceries. These figures are post Labor's spendathon to artificially push down prices. Billions of dollars were borrowed and splashed around to mask the underlying problems. Those rebates didn't fix supply. They didn't strengthen reliability. They simply delayed the pain, and now households are feeling it in full.

Those failures on energy are reflective of a much broader failure of Labor's economic policy across the board. This is a government on track to rack up $1 trillion of debt. The result is Australians pay. Labor's spending drives up inflation. The input costs for everything go up. The consumer ends up footing the bill. When Labor spends, you pay. When Labor spends, Australians pay. Under Labor and the reckless Treasurer, inflation is higher than in any other major advanced economy. It's higher than in the US, the UK, Canada, Germany, Italy, France and Japan. High inflation means higher power bills. It means higher prices for Australians. That's why people are paying higher prices in energy across my electorate. It's why interest rates have gone up again. It's why, under Labor, we've experienced the largest decline in living standards in the developed world. The people of Berowra have kept their side of the bargain. They've worked hard, they've paid their taxes and they've trusted what they were told. They deserve a government that does the same. All Australians do.

Renee Coffey (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In Griffith, energy affordability is a real cost-of-living issue. Families are opening their power bills and doing the sums again. Small businesses are watching every overhead. People are budgeting carefully and still feeling the strain. We know that. We have acted to ease that pressure, and we know there is more work to do. But the clean energy transition is not only about affordability; it is also about the kind of environment we leave to the next generation. It's about cutting emissions, reducing pollution and moving away from an ageing coal system that is becoming more expensive, less reliable and harder on our climate. For communities like Griffith, those goals belong together. Cleaner energy and cheaper energy go hand in hand.

That is why the Albanese Labor government's plan is clear—more cheaper, cleaner energy and a better deal for households. We are modernising the grid so Australia can make better use of the best sun and wind in the world. We are backing renewables, firmed by storage, hydro and gas, because that is the practical path to lower bills, lower emissions and a more reliable system. The Australian Energy Market Operator's own planning says the lowest-cost path for Australia is renewable energy connected through better networks, firmed with storage and backed by gas when needed. So the answer is not delay. The answer is to keep building the modern system properly and to do it in an orderly way.

Australia's renewable transition gathered pace in 2025, with a record number of projects given the green light. Since May 2022, more than 19 gigawatts of variable renewable generation has been installed across the country. That includes more than 10 gigawatts of rooftop solar, 4.6 gigawatts of utility solar and 4.4 gigawatts of wind. That is enough to power more than six million households. In the September 2025 quarter, AEMO reported that higher renewable output and lower market volatility helped bring down wholesale electricity prices across every region of the national electricity market. Wholesale prices averaged $87 per megawatt hour nationally, down 27 per cent on the year before, and Queensland recorded the lowest average quarterly spot price in the market, at $72 per megawatt hour. The Australian Energy Regulator said wholesale electricity spot prices have fallen since late 2022 thanks to lower fuel costs, increased renewable energy and government action. AEMO also reported a record 77.2 per cent renewable contribution on one day in September, alongside an 11 per cent lift in rooftop solar output for the quarter.

This shows the direction we need to keep moving in. More renewables and more storage in the system mean less dependence on unreliable coal fired power and more protection from the price shocks that come when ageing generators fail. It also means a cleaner grid, lower emissions and real progress towards the climate goals Australians expect us to meet. As the Clean Energy Council said:

The more renewables in the system, the less we need to depend on unreliable coal-fired power and gas over time, which will provide much needed cost-relief on bills.

We're also seeing this on rooftops across the country. Rooftop solar provided 12.8 per cent of Australia's electricity in the first half of 2025, with 26.8 gigawatts installed across 4.2 million homes and small businesses by June. By the end of 2025, rooftop solar had grown to 28.3 gigawatts and contributed 14.2 per cent of electricity supplied to the grid across the year. That is a powerful national asset, built suburb by suburb, roof by roof and household by household.

As a Queenslander myself, I am pleased to report that in Queensland we are leading that work. Queensland added the most rooftop solar capacity in the first half of 2025, with 326 megawatts installed in just six months. When you walk around my community in Griffith, it's hard to find houses without rooftop solar. By the end of 2025, Queensland remained the state with the most rooftop solar installations, at 1.16 million systems. Energy Queensland also reports that around 48 per cent of detached homes in Queensland now have solar, one of the highest rates around the country. Queenslanders have understood for years that rooftop solar is one of the most practical ways to cut household costs, with 44 per cent of households in my electorate now fitted with solar panels.

We've also added batteries into that calculation, which means lower bills, greater resilience and a cleaner energy system overall. That's what our plan delivers—more rooftop solar, more batteries and more cheaper renewable energy in the system. It means lower bills over time, lower emissions, a fairer energy market and a grid built for the future.

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

The Prime Minister promised to lower our power bills, but instead he has simply lowered the standard of living. In a country as resource rich as ours, turning on the lights should not feel like a criminal act against the family budget. Yet under this government electricity bills have become a tax on existence. We're not talking about extravagant luxuries; we're talking about the basics of survival—light, heat and the ability to keep food cold. Yet under this government, electricity bills continue to climb, adding to the crushing cost-of-living crisis that families in my electorate of Dawson are struggling to manage.

The social impact is stark. Families are being forced to choose between paying their power bills and putting food on the table. This is not a choice any Australian should ever have to make. High energy costs are threatening jobs and livelihoods across our whole nation, and these are the human costs of Labor's broken promises. Let's look at the cold hard facts. Australians were promised a $275 cut in their power bills. That was the headline. That was the hook. But under this Labor government households are instead paying on average $1,300 more. Energy bills have already increased by close to 40 per cent, and this Labor government has broken its most basic promise to the Australian people. Worst of all, they knew it was coming. The department of energy advised the minister of further significant increases in retail electricity prices, yet this government pushed ahead with the same failing policies. Our manufacturers are being strangled. They aren't being beaten by better products. They're being beaten by competitors who have access to cheaper electricity overseas. This government is making our local industries pay more and produce less.

Australians have been let down by this government. They were promised cheaper power. The reality is a 40 per cent price increase. They were promised a decrease. The reality is a $1,300 increase. This government said the renewables would lower the power bills. Instead, they have pushed prices through the roof and delivered no meaningful emissions progress. Without the farmland locked up for carbon credits, emissions today are exactly the same as when the coalition left office. After more than three years of hollow slogans, nothing has changed except the elevated price of electricity. The only thing this government has successfully delivered is a darker future.

We often hear the Minister for Climate Change and Energy tout the government's home batteries scheme as a success. At question time, he loves to tell us how many batteries people are buying. But how can a family who can't afford to eat pay for a battery? How is a pensioner expected to find $15,000 for a battery when they're struggling to buy a loaf of bread? This government is using taxpayers' money to subsidise a luxury item that only the wealthy can afford. Meanwhile, the vulnerable are left to sweat. They sweat over the cost of their next power bill, and they sweat through summer because they can't afford to turn their aircon on.

Then, let's address the elephant in the room. What happens to these batteries when they inevitably fail in a few years? There is nowhere to recycle them. Currently, large lithium batteries are being sent to Melbourne, where they sit in storage until they're shipped to Singapore. This government claims to protect the environment, but its own policies are driving the country towards environmental catastrophe while bankrupting the nation in the process. This government is creating a toxic landfill and has no plan and no clue about how to manage it.

Australia is one of the most resource-rich nations on the planet. Yet this government would rather export our own resources so that other countries can enjoy cheap, reliable power, while making life harder and more expensive for everyday Australians. This government is shipping away our nation's prosperity while our citizens sit in the dark. No family, no business and no community should be collateral damage from this government's ideological net zero experiment. It's time to restore power, it's time to restore the promise and it's time to restore protection to the people who are keeping this nation running. Australians are living under an Albanese Labor created cost-of-living crisis. Labor needs to do better.

Zhi Soon (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to join my colleagues the member for Forde and the member for Griffith in reminding those opposite of the important work of this government in reducing the cost of energy for our communities. Let's start with some facts. Australia's renewable energy transition accelerated in 2025, with a record number of projects given the green light. According to the Clean Energy Regulator, more than 19 gigawatts of variable renewable generation capacity has been installed across Australia since Labor returned to government, including 10 gigawatts of rooftop solar and 4.4 gigawatts of wind. This increase is enough to power more than six million households. Experts from across industry, business and the energy sector recognise the truth—that this government's work in rolling out renewable energy is making the difference we need to reduce power bills.

The Energy Market Operator's system plan stated that the government's plan for renewable energy 'firmed with storage, backed up by gas and connected with upgraded networks remains the least cost road map to meet Australia's energy needs'. The Energy Market Commission agrees, projecting a five per cent decrease in per unit prices over the next five years, and added that prices risk rising by 13 per cent from 2030 to 2035 unless renewable energy generation, battery and transmission projects are delivered. This is what our government is focused on.

The problem is clear, but so are the solutions, and this Labor government is getting on with the job. It is projects like the Padstow community battery in my electorate of Banks, which I opened with the minister just last week, that are making the key difference. They work by storing excess solar power generated during the day and distributing it to the network in the evening, when the demand is at its highest and generation is, unfortunately, most reliant on expensive, ageing coal facilities.

Eligible households in my electorate across Padstow, Padstow Heights, Riverwood, Punchbowl, Roselands and parts of Revesby and Revesby Heights will, because of these community batteries, be able to save more than $200 a year on their bills if they sign up to a plan that encompasses energy storage as a service. While the Padstow community batteries are at a larger scale, smaller solutions are also available, and 250,000 households nationwide have signed up to a cheaper home battery which, coupled with rooftop solar, can cut a household's bill dramatically and, by reducing usage during peak times, creates a more reliable grid and puts downward pressure on energy prices for every single family. In the electorate of Banks alone, 1,675 households have installed a battery already. This is the key difference between the approach of this government on energy policy and that of our predecessor, the former Liberal government, where the now leader of the opposition took the lead on energy.

This Labor government recognises that energy prices are a problem, and it's working hard to solve it. The Leader of the Opposition saw rising energy prices and did the opposite, and they worked hard to hide it. They changed the law to keep electricity prices a secret. They deliberately concealed cost blowouts on Snowy 2.0. They didn't spend a dollar of the $1 billion promised to add capacity to the grid, and they funded the VNI West project that the current shadow minister for energy and emissions reduction and other coalition MPs have gone to great lengths to oppose. This is quite the CV for the new leader of the opposition in the energy portfolio.

The coalition has now decided that they want to abandon net zero, and the verdict on their so-called plan is clear. Industry, business and experts all say the same thing: abandoning net zero will not spur investment, it won't enable growth in the economy, and it won't bring down power prices for households. When the Australian people look at each side of this House, the contrast could not be clearer. On this side, the Labor Albanese government side, we are serious, we recognise there are issues, and we are getting on with the job of addressing them. On the other side is an opposition that still denies climate change even exists.

Leon Rebello (McPherson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am delighted to speak on the motion moved by the member for Wannon, the shadow minister for energy and emissions reduction, but I'm also concerned. I'm concerned because what we're seeing on the other side is a continual misunderstanding of how bad this situation is. Once again, Australians across the country are facing increased energy bills. Electricity costs rose 32.2 per cent in the 12 months to January 2026, which is an increase from a 21.5 per cent rise in the 12 months to December 2025. What does that mean? It means that families across my electorate—from Burleigh to Bilinga, to Currumbin, to Tugun and to Mudgeeraba—are all having to pay for the consequences of this government's failures when it comes to energy policy.

I've been listening to some of the contributions of those opposite. I'll start by responding to the contribution of the member for Forde, who spoke about the fact that we, on this side of the parliament, are going through some sort of ideological crusade. Well, I think the average person watching will look at this government's endless pursuit of renewables and really question the member for Forde as to whether it's this side of the chamber that's going through an ideological crusade or the government. He also spoke about the fact that the direction that Chris Bowen, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, is taking our country in is going to result in material wealth beyond our imagination. That is not the experience of people across my electorate. That is not the experience of people across Queensland or people across this country.

The latest quarterly update of Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory showed us that, despite the billions of taxpayer dollars spent by the Albanese government, our emission reductions have basically flatlined. The figures are also proof that Chris Bowen won't meet his 2030 emissions reduction target of 43 per cent below the 2005 base year. So for those opposite to criticise us not only for calling out this energy minister and calling out this government but for being upfront and honest with the Australian people about where we're at and where we're going as a country in relation to energy policy is quite frankly misleading to the Australian people, and that concept of misleading has continued throughout the course of this government.

We saw, time and time again, that Australians were promised a $275 cut to their power bills by last Christmas and that they would be $378 lower by 2030. But what have we actually seen? We're paying up to $1,300 more for our energy costs. We've seen that, instead of the lower energy costs that were promised by this government, Australians are now paying more due to the policies of this government.

Now, when the coalition left office emissions were at 27.3 per cent, and now they stand at 27.4 per cent below the baseline of 2005. It is so clear that this government has no idea about what the consequences are of what it is doing and where it is taking this country. It is high time that Chris Bowen is honest with the Australian public. It is high time that the Minister for Climate Change and Energy is honest with the Australian public and that he actually details how much this government's energy and emissions reduction policies are costing the Australian taxpayer.

Across this country, in all directions, Australians are paying for this government's failures. And it's not just the individuals; it's the businesses. I've had the opportunity and the privilege of speaking to a number of businesses in my electorate this week, including one quite distressed business owner in Coolangatta earlier this week. They are the front face of this energy crisis, and those are the people who expect that their representatives in this place, including myself, speak up and speak out about a government that is incompetent in managing our energy policy and a minister at its helm who has no idea about where he's taking this country. Madam Speaker Scrymgour, I say to you that Australia is struggling, Australians are struggling and energy policy is something that must be addressed by this government.

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

This Labor government has committed to a future where energy is cleaner, fairer and more affordable for every household and every business no matter where they live, and that has been our commitment. Australia is in the middle of one of the biggest transformations in our modern history. For more than a century, our energy system has relied heavily on a small number of large, central power stations, but now we're seeing an extraordinary shift toward a system powered by abundant sun, strong wind, smart technology and the power of everyday Australians who are embracing that particular change. It's change that is led by this Albanese Labor government, not the coalition.

We know that they have opposed our renewables. They've opposed renewables. They're still in a debate about whether we're living through climate change. We saw this whilst they were in government of nine years, where they had nine different energy policies, delaying any outcome to getting renewables in and making energy cheaper. We have assisted the nation with power bill relief, gas price caps and investing in cheaper renewables where the coalition have stood in opposition rather than support.

Record numbers of households in my electorate and all over Australia are installing solar panels and home batteries, and this means that people are generating their own electricity on their rooftops, storing it in their garages in their batteries and using it at night when energy would normally be more expensive. Families are gaining more independence, more control and more certainty over their energy use and bringing their energy bills down.

This transition is also about fairness. Fairness means making sure energy companies are transparent, fairness means ensuring no household is caught off guard by sudden price hikes and fairness means giving every customer access to simple, fee-free payment options. Fairness means strengthening protection for people doing it tough so they aren't left behind. A fair energy system is one where bills are understandable, pricing is predictable and households know the provider's best offer is actually what they're receiving. A fairer energy system is one where people feel empowered, not overwhelmed, and fairness also means ensuring that everyone from renters to pensioners and from families in apartments to households in regional towns can benefit from this shift to clean energy—not just those who own big rooftops or can afford upfront costs.

Record investments in renewable energy and storage show the momentum is real. The development pipeline of new projects is growing, communities are beginning to host the clean industries of the future and a new generation of workers is being trained to support the renewable economy. Beyond numbers and technology, this transformation is about people: families who want lower bills, young people who want a liveable climate, regional communities who want economic opportunity and businesses who want reliable power. We're advocating for better energy, we are advocating for a renewable economy and we are advocating for more power to the people.

I wish I could say the same about the opposition. The now leader of the opposition, who was once the energy minister, had anything but the best intentions for Australians. His record displays actions from secretly increasing electricity prices to constantly failing to deliver on his promises of cheaper energy and more electricity.

We're taking public action with the nation's best interests in mind. We have made and are making it easier for Australians to save on energy bills and to take advantage of clean, reliable and renewable power. Australians deserve clarity, transparency and fairness when it comes to energy bills. This year the new national energy rules will come into effect to strengthen the protections that we have put forward for households and businesses. Importantly, the new rules place stronger responsibility on retailers to support customers experiencing hardship.

Together we are giving Australians control over energy. Together we are paving the way for a renewable and sustainable future. I ask: what have the opposition done? They have done nothing but criticise and undermine, and their record shows that they have no ability to do anything. In fact, when they were in government, electricity costs increased by 40 per cent.

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.