Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Perhaps Senator Di Natale was hiding under a rock in recent years, or maybe he was somewhere in a party room meeting in a cave. Do you know what happened under the previous Labor government's energy policy? The lights went out! They couldn't keep the lights on. On this side of parliament we do not support a policy that is not able to keep the lights on. We are in favour of lower prices, we're in favour of keeping the lights on and we're in favour of meeting our emissions reduction targets in a way that makes sense economically but also ensures that our businesses and our families can continue to have reliable access to electricity supplies.

Any policy framework that generates a complete, statewide blackout is a massive policy failure. If you want to go to the next election arguing in favour of a policy failure like that, go right ahead. We will argue against you, and the Australian people can decide: Do they want blackouts or do they want reliable energy supplies? Do they want lower electricity prices or higher prices under you?