I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that power prices are far too high under the Government, with electricity bills increasing by around 40 per cent and Australian households spending an extra $23 billion on energy bills over the past four years;

(2) condemns the Government for turning its back on affordable and reliable energy, including coal and gas, and forcing consumers to pay for higher costs and unreliable energy policy;

(3) recognises individuals, families, small businesses, farmers, manufacturers and miners need affordable and reliable energy to keep household budgets under control, remain competitive and support Australian jobs;

(4) calls out the Government for making Australia more dependent on imported fuel, with around 90 per cent of transport fuel now brought in from overseas, placing the economy and national security at risk;

(5) supports the Opposition's plan to deliver cheaper power and energy abundance by backing all technologies that can provide affordable and reliable energy, including coal, gas, hydro, nuclear, batteries and renewables in the right places; and

(6) calls on the Government to adopt practical energy policies that lower power prices, strengthen fuel security, support Australian businesses and restore Australia's energy independence.

As I go door to door throughout Toowoomba, I hear the same thing from people over and over again: Australia is heading in the wrong direction. Inevitably they tell me that the cost of living is going up and up, and inevitably they bring it back to energy bills. Energy bills continue to push upwards, and if I ask them, 'What would you change about Australia,' they say the same thing. 'Can we get real on our conversation about energy? Can we get real? Can we be honest?'

This is a government that not that long ago came into power in 2022 on the promise of a $275 reduction in your power bills. This wasn't just a promise. This wasn't something pie in the sky. This was baked in. The modelling was done. This was an absolute promise from the Prime Minister and from the now Minister for Energy. This was what was absolutely going to happen. But, of course, nothing of the sort has happened. Instead, what we've seen is prices rise by 40 per cent. For us to continue on the pathway we're going, to add in the poles and wires we're going to need to connect all the various renewable projects that are stumbling their way through ridiculous approval processes at the moment, we're going to see another 60 per cent on top of that price rise again. That's where we're headed.

Prices have gone up, they continue to go up, and yet we have a minister who will get on the news and try and deny it and try and tell us that things are going the right way. We ask, 'When are these energy prices coming down?' He says, 'Wholesale prices are coming down,' as if that is what people pay in their homes when I knock on their door. It's ridiculous, and it's so out of touch. It's so out of touch of El Presidente—forgive me—the Minister for Climate Change and Energy.

And as we have this conversation, how can we be in this situation in Australia? We are a country blessed with reserves of coal, gas and uranium. We have some of the best mining engineers and technical specialists in the world come out of our wonderful education systems. We have some of the best miners. It's been my privilege in life to lead them into their daily work. One of the most honourable professions is to go and extract those resources that used to drive our economy. We have the best in the world, and yet we're not allowed to use it. We're allowed to send it overseas for other countries to use. And what happens when they use our resources? They get cheap energy, they make things. They take our manufacturing, our industrial base, from us. It follows cheap energy. Isn't that extraordinary? Who would have thought that if you need to make things, then you need cheap energy to make it? When we give away our cheap energy, other countries take our industrial base from us.

What happens here? I've already said that our energy prices go up. We're not allowed to use the resources that we have. We're not allowed to use our coal at full capacity. We talk it down. We have states that didn't want to use gas. And as a country we can't bring ourselves to use uranium whilst we watch other countries that have far lower standards of living than us rocket up, speed up ahead of us, because they're using cheap energy. That's what drives economies. That's what makes countries better. That's what drives their standard of living—cheap energy.

Worse than that is that we put in place ridiculous policies, like the Safeguard Mechanism, that are purely designed to punish emitters and to push these people out of our local market. And then we created the Capacity Investment Scheme, which underwrites the losses of renewable projects. So not only do we kill off and push out emitters; we make this pretend false economy where renewable energy is underwritten by the taxpayer and we don't get to know how much we are underwriting these renewable projects that are inevitably owned by foreign countries. They come here and run at a loss, with taxpayers underwriting the money that shoots out overseas.

We're currently at a time when we are subsidising electric vehicles made in China more than we were subsidising the Australian car industry. That should be shocking to Australians. That should be absolutely shocking. We are throwing money at Chinese EV manufacturers at a rate we were not throwing it at the Australian car-manufacturing industry. If you want to go further, we now not just allow but encourage this. We've set up a system whereby foreign companies can come here, buy our farms and shut them down. This is prime agricultural land in the member for Dawson's, the member for New England's and my own electorate shut down, and we're wondering why our economy is suffering.

There is a better way. Drop net zero. Walk away from it. Grow up. Be a country that can realise we have these fantastic advantages. We should be using them. We should be them to using our full benefit. When we do, we can return our standard of living. We can be a prosperous and strong nation again.

Is the motion seconded?

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

I've been trying to work out what the coalition's energy policy actually is, and I think I've finally got it. They want cheaper electricity; they just oppose building the cheapest new electricity. They want a reliable grid; they just oppose the transmission needed to connect new generation. They want Australian manufacturing to grow; they just oppose the investment certainty manufacturers need. They want coal fired power stations to stay open; they just do not want to explain who is going to keep them running. Apparently, after doing all of that, power prices will magically fall! That is not an energy policy; it is a wish list with all the difficult bits crossed out. Governing requires more than announcing the destination. You have to explain how you are going to get there.

Let's take coal. Those opposite talk about ageing coal fired power stations as if governments can simply order them to continue operating forever. But these are enormous pieces of industrial machinery. They wear out. Boilers deteriorate. Turbines require major overhauls. Maintenance costs increase. Eventually, the owners look at the cost of keeping those plants open and make a commercial decision. You cannot repeal metal fatigue. You cannot move an amendment to stop a boiler tube leaking, and you certainly cannot run a national electricity market on nostalgia. So when the coalition keep saying, 'Keep the old plants open,' there are some fairly obvious questions—for how long, at what cost, who pays and what will replace them eventually? These are not minor details.

While those opposite were in government, 24 of Australia's 28 coal fired power stations brought forward their closure dates. Four gigawatts of dispatchable generation left the system and only one gigawatt went in. They knew these generators were going to close. The companies told them, the market told them and the engineers told them. Instead of building what came next, Australia got a decade of political warfare over energy. Then the bill arrived. They promised wholesale electricity prices below $70 a megawatt hour. They left government with wholesale prices above $280. Apparently their answer is now to do it all again—delay investment, oppose transmission, create uncertainty, keep ageing generators running longer and then act surprised when electricity becomes expensive.

But this debate is not only about household power bills; it is about Australian industry. For decades, some of our biggest manufacturers have relied on long-term electricity contracts. Those contracts gave them certainty to invest, employ people and compete internationally. But those contracts won't last forever. Manufacturers are now looking at the next 10 or 20 years, and that is where energy policy stops being a political argument and becomes industrial policy. If we want to make things in Australia, we need abundant, reliable and internationally competitive electricity, not eventually; we need to build it now.

That is why certainty matters. Generation matters. Storage matters. Transmission matters. Businesses need to know what that system looks like. Investors need to know what we are building, and workers need to know that those jobs have a future.

The independent experts are remarkably consistent. The Australian Energy Market Operator says:

Renewable energy, firmed with storage, backed up by gas and connected with upgraded networks remains the least-cost road map …

The CSIRO says:

Renewables supported by storage remain the lowest-cost generation investments …

The Australian Energy Market Commission has warned that delaying generation, batteries and transmission risks higher electricity prices. So the choice is straightforward: with aging infrastructure that needs replacing, we can plan the replacement, attract investment and build it before the system disappears, or we can delay, pretend the old system will last forever and eventually discover that infrastructure does not care about political slogans.

Labor is choosing to build more generation, more storage and more transmission, firming capacity and a system capable of supporting Australian industry for decades to come. Those opposite offer something different: cheap power without new generation, reliability without investment, manufacturing without certainty and aging power stations without the maintenance bill. There is a technical term for a policy like that—it doesn't work. The coalition spent a decade discovering that the hard way. Australia should not have to pay for them to learn it twice.

Australia should be an energy superpower. We have coal and we have gas. We have the resources to power our nation; yet under this government, Australians are paying more for intermittent, unreliable power. Electricity bills have increased by around 40 per cent, and remember, this is after the Prime Minister said that under his leadership, power would be $245 cheaper. It looks like he's changed his position again.

Over the past four years, Australian households have spent an extra $23 billion on energy bills. That's cold, hard cash being taken from family budgets—money that could have paid for groceries, school fees or mortgage repayments. Australians are experiencing a Labor created cost-of-living crisis and, under this Prime Minister, there's no sign of that ending.

The result of high energy costs? Well, for small businesses, it means higher operating costs. For manufacturers, it means higher production costs. For farmers, it means higher costs to pump water, run machinery and keep their paddocks ploughed. For restaurants, it means higher costs to cook, cool and serve, which results in more expensive nights out for everyone. For transport operators, it means higher costs to keep the trucks moving.

Energy is not some abstract policy debate; it's the engine of our economy. When energy prices rise, everything that uses energy becomes more expensive. When Australians pay more for power than they do overseas, we lose our competitive advantage. That means fewer opportunities for Australian workers and greater reliance on products made from somewhere else.

We are already becoming dangerously dependent on fuel from overseas. Around 90 per cent of our transport fuel is now imported from overseas. We're relying on other countries to keep Australia moving. When the supply is disrupted, the shock travels fast. It hits the bowser, the farm gate and the family budget. For a country with all the resources, this is simply not good enough.

Our economy depends on fuel. Higher transport costs mean higher costs for everyone. A country like Australia should never be caught short on energy. It is needed for our economy—to keep it moving. We need an energy policy that starts with what actually works, not what fits this Labor ideology.

The coalition's plan is simple. We will use every reliable tool available to us—coal, gas, hydro and renewables, in the right place—and it's time to remove the ban on nuclear. This should not be a contest between technologies; it should be a contest to deliver better outcomes. If a technology can't provide affordable, reliable energy, we should not be prepared to use it. If it can strengthen our grid, support Australian industry and keep the lights on, then it deserves a place. We should not be shutting down proven energy sources before we have reliable replacements ready. We should not be asking Australian families to carry the cost of that experiment.

The government talks constantly about the transition, but Australians are asking a much simpler question: when will the power become affordable again? You cannot build a stronger economy on ever-rising energy costs. You cannot create manufacturing jobs by making manufacturing more expensive. And you cannot claim to have energy security while importing nine out of every 10 litres of fuel. Australia does not have an energy shortage; Labor has an energy policy problem.

We have the resources, we have the technology, we have the workers and we have the capability to power our future, but we need a government with the political will to use them. Australians need energy that is reliable and affordable. Businesses need certainty. Farmers need competitiveness. Manufacturers need lower input costs. Workers need secure jobs. And families need to know that, when the power bill arrives, they can afford to pay it. This government has made energy more expensive and less secure. The alternative is clear, and it starts with a cheaper, better, fairer plan: an energy system that puts Australian households and jobs first. Australia has the resources to be an energy superpower. The coalition has the plan to make it work for them. (Time expired)

I understand that the member for Pearce would like to present a copy of their speech for incorporation into Hansard, in accordance with the resolution agreed to on 6 November 2025.

The incorporated speech read as follows—

I totally oppose this motion. While it claims to address high energy costs, it ignores their structural causes and would leave Australians exposed to breakdowns, price spikes and higher bills. Australia's coal-fired power stations are ageing and increasingly unreliable. Of 28 coal plants, 24 brought their closure dates forward. Four gigawatts of dispatchable energy came off the grid, while only one gigawatt came on.

The coalition promised wholesale electricity prices below $70 per megawatt hour. Instead, it left office with prices above $280. In May 2022, the average price was $341.25. The then energy minister changed the law to keep electricity price hikes secret ahead of the 2022 election. The coalition promised $1 billion to add 3,800 megawatts of electricity to the grid, yet three years later not one dollar nor one kilowatt had been delivered.

The answer is rebuilding Australia's grid with low-cost renewable energy, backed by firming and upgraded networks. Since the Albanese government was elected in 2022, more than 22 gigawatts of wind and solar have been added to the grid. Wind and solar capacity has increased by 60 per cent—more than five times the capacity of the Snowy hydro schemes.

Independent market bodies support this direction. The Australian Energy Market Operator says renewable energy, firmed with storage, backed by gas and connected through upgraded networks, remains the least-cost road map for Australia. The Australian Energy Regulator reports wholesale electricity spot prices have fallen since late 2022 because of lower fuel costs, increased renewable energy and government actions. CSIRO finds renewables supported by storage remain the lowest-cost generation investments for Australia's future electricity system.

The Australian Energy Market Commission projects residential electricity per-unit prices will fall by around five per cent over the next five years, but it warns those prices risk rising 13 per cent from 2030 to 2035 unless renewable generation, batteries and transmission are delivered faster. Clean Energy Council research found household power bills could rise by $449 per year by 2030, with greater reliance on gas and coal and slower renewable construction. If a major coal-fired power plant also failed unexpectedly, that increase could reach $606.

Yet the opposition proposes keeping ageing, unreliable coal generators operating longer. These plants can break down without warning, and those breakdowns cause price spikes. Their scheme would pour billions of taxpayer dollars into propping up ageing coal instead of building renewables backed by hydro, batteries and fast, flexible gas. During the coalition's decade in government, 24 of Australia's 28 coal-fired power stations announced they were closing. Four gigawatts of dispatchable energy came off the grid and only one gigawatt came on. Australians cannot afford to keep paying for that failure to prepare.

Treasury modelling also warns that not pursuing net zero by 2050 risks lower economic growth, reduced investment, missed export and employment opportunities, and higher energy prices. It estimates a disorderly transition would cost the Australian economy $1.2 trillion between now and 2050.

The Albanese Labor government's plan is renewables backed by gas, batteries and hydro. We have acted through power bill relief, gas price caps and investment in cheap renewables. We are also supporting households to electrify and install batteries. We are also fixing the retail electricity market to give consumers a fairer deal. New rules will prevent retailers increasing prices more than once a year, protect customers when low-cost offers expire, ban excessive charges such as late-payment fees, guarantee a fee-free payment method and require stronger assistance for vulnerable customers experiencing hardship. It is also about replacing ageing generation before it fails, rather than asking taxpayers and consumers to carry the cost of keeping unreliable coal plants operating beyond their planned lives.

This motion misdiagnoses the causes of high electricity prices and offers policies that would make Australia's energy transition slower and more expensive. We should instead build the modern energy system Australians need: abundant renewable generation, firmed by batteries, hydro and flexible gas, connected by the transmission infrastructure required to deliver it. That is the least-cost roadmap identified by Australia's energy market operator. It lowers emissions, supports jobs and provides a pathway to a more reliable electricity system. I strongly urge the House to reject this misguided motion.

Debate adjourned.