George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Di Natale, the Prime Minister has made it clear time and again, if you would but listen, that renewable energy will always be an important and a growing component of the energy mix. We have always said that. And that is why, for example, we adopted some of the most ambitious per capita emissions reduction targets in the world at the Paris climate change conference. So renewables are not only an important part of our policy; they are a growing part of our policy.

But, unlike you, Senator Di Natale, we are not obsessed with an ideology. So we acknowledge as well that carbon sources will also continue to be an important part of the energy mix for the foreseeable future—that gas and coal will continue to be an important part of the energy mix, because what we want is the right outcome. What we want is an outcome that keeps prices down and keeps supply reliable.