Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

As Senator Williams points out, it would put us in the dark. It would put Australia in the dark. Labor wants to take the South Australian failed energy experiment, which leads to lights out and the highest energy prices in the country. Bill Shorten and federal Labor want to take that national. I find the fact that Labor would come to the Senate today and want to talk about energy policy absolutely extraordinary. We are happy to talk about energy policy, because we are absolutely the party who will do all we can to keep the lights on, and we will have the policies to keep prices as low as possible. Labor's only policies will see prices go up and the reliability of our system undermined.

Labor's one policy prescription is closing down 24 coal-fired power plants. The Australian Energy Market Commission said a forced closure policy could cost up to $24 billion and thousands of jobs—thousands of jobs of people whom the Labor Party used to represent. No more do they represent them. The contrast could not be clearer between us and a Labor Party that is now so enthralled by Greens policy that it will take reckless action. Bill Shorten has indicated that, if he becomes Prime Minister, he will shut down our coal-fired power industry, he will push up electricity prices with a 50 per cent renewable energy target and a 45 per cent reduction target, and he will put our economy at risk. Our manufacturing sector, which relies on cheap energy, will be absolutely decimated, and the small businesses that flow from it will also be decimated. There are workers, regional towns and suburban areas and households that rely on this. There are households that can't afford to pay for Bill Shorten's deal with the Greens. And fundamentally—