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

Yes, I can. It's obvious to all of us why it is important that Australia have a reliable, secure and affordable energy supply. It is a fundamental obligation of any government to keep the lights on and to provide its people with power at prices they can afford. And, as a result of the announcements made today by the Prime Minister, that is precisely what we mean to do.

And the comparison with the Australian Labor Party couldn't be more stark—in the state of South Australia, for example, where last year the entire state was blacked out. The entire state of South Australia was blacked out last year as a direct result of the policies of the Weatherill Labor government—because the Weatherill Labor government wasn't committed to economics and to engineering; it was committed to ideology. That's the difference: the Labor Party, driven by ideology, can't even keep the lights on and the Turnbull government has a plan for affordable and reliable supply.