Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Williams for this very important question. Energy affordability, of course, is a huge issue for households, businesses and farmers across regional New South Wales and, indeed, right across regional Australia. That's precisely why we are taking action on a number of fronts to help address this issue.

While those opposite are intent on pursuing ideological energy policies, the coalition is delivering meaningful and practical measures guided by expert engineers and economists. We commissioned the Finkel review and, at the recent COAG Energy Council, 49 out of 50 recommendations from the Finkel review were agreed to, including three-year notice of closure, generator reliability and security obligations. We are also taking strong action on gas supply, which will ensure the gas supply needs of Australian households and consumers are met before those of international customers.

What I am most proud of is the massive investment the Turnbull-Joyce government will be making to build Snowy Hydro 2.0, which will increase energy security and affordability for regional households and businesses and bring much-needed jobs to the Snowy Mountains region. Snowy Hydro 2.0 will help make renewables reliable, filling in holes caused by intermittent supply and generator outages. It will enable greater energy efficiency and help stabilise electricity supply into the future. This project could boost electricity production capacity by 2,000 megawatts—enough to power an additional 500,000 homes. It's estimated this truly nation-building project will create thousands of engineering and construction jobs—at least 5,000. Those are jobs that will be of great benefit to the great people of Cooma, Jindabyne, and the entire Snowy region and beyond.