Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked today.

Firstly, Senator Wong asked a question in relation to the coalition's $80 billion corporate tax cut. She asked: 'Will the minister keep his word to take the Enterprise Tax Plan to the next election?' The Minister for Finance, understandably, reiterated his commitment to delivering this handout, be it at the demise of his government and his party. We saw the government had yet another slip in the polls this morning, suffering a humiliating defeat in the Super Saturday by-elections. The results are in: this government is living in a fantasy land. The Australian people want investment in schools and hospitals and they want their Medicare card, not their credit card, to determine their level of health care.

Let's go to the NEG. Obviously, there is a question here in relation to some of the answers from the ministers opposite. How's the party room meeting shaping up, Minister Birmingham? I see the Prime Minister's latest attempt to appease the anti-renewable ideologues in his party room misrepresents an ACCC recommendation to support new generators by using it as a coal fund.

The mantra of Minister Birmingham quite often throughout question time this afternoon was, 'Every single member of the coalition wants to see lower power prices and greater reliability. Yes, the coalition is working together. Yes, it's working as a team.' But we're certainly not seeing that from this side of the House. We also see that it's a clear attempt by the Prime Minister to mislead his backbench and sneak the National Energy Guarantee through the coalition party room. The ACCC recommendation is not about supporting new coal power; it's about supporting hybrid renewable storage and gas projects. ACCC Chair, Rod Sims, had been clear about that, saying the recommendation is 'not targeted at baseload power, and it's not targeted at coal'. Mr Sims has also said, when asked about how he came to his generator underwriting recommendation, 'Nobody has mentioned coal to us'. The chair of the Energy Security Board, Kerry Schott, has said there would be 'absolutely no way' anybody would be financing a new coal-fired generation plant. That is why the industry has labelled new coal power 'uninvestable', and it is why AEMO and all serious stakeholders understand that new coal power plants in Australia are a fantasy.

Federal Labor has been consistently clear there should be no taxpayers' money for new coal-fired power stations in Australia. If the Prime Minister wants to deliver a new coal fund to his party room, he should not be using the ACCC as cover for such a misguided, wasteful and irresponsible policy. The Prime Minister's inability to stand up to the new coal power obsession within his government reminds us that the biggest barrier to lower power prices for Australians is the chaos and division within the coalition party room. Indeed, Minister Birmingham continued to advocate for public investment in coal-fired power during question time today. Can you not see the cost of doing nothing? Look at the situation our farmers are in right now. Look at the drought and the suffering as a result of climate change. Look at the rising cost in power and the impact it's having on manufacturing in this country. Businesses are struggling because of this energy shambles created by the coalition.

And, again, I reiterate, as of 2 pm this afternoon, Fairfax Media reported Mr Sims made it clear to the Nationals' party room that one of the 56 recommendations in the regulator's pricing report in June should not be described as 'underwriting coal' or 'favouring coal-fired power stations'. Federal Labor has been consistently supportive and constructive over energy policy, offering bipartisan support for an investment framework that would deliver investor certainty and start to bring an end to the energy crisis that has emerged under Prime Minister Turnbull—and absolutely seen power bills skyrocket for Australian households and businesses right across the country.