Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Prohibiting Energy Market Misconduct) Bill 2019. If there's something I hate more than inefficient bureaucracies, it's parasites in the private sector bleeding the taxpayer dry by living off government subsidies—and what a private sector we have in the energy market, made all the bigger by Senator Watt's previous boss, Anna Bligh, selling all of Queensland's gas and wind assets back in 2007. For those of you that need reminding, Queensland Labor privatised wind assets for $460 million, gas assets and Enertrade for $268 million, Powerdirect for $1.2 billion, Sun Retail for $1.2 billion and Allgas for $535 million. Here it is, the truth about who sold Queensland's energy assets: Queensland Labor—and never forget it.

The private sector in energy is only going to grow bigger in Queensland, because Queensland Labor are subsidising private industry to build power plants that aren't needed. That's right: they aren't needed. Why? Because the maximum amount of demand in Queensland ever recorded, on Valentine's Day last year, was 10 gigawatts, and we currently have a 16-gigawatt capacity in the system—13 gigawatts in coal and gas, and three gigawatts in renewables. Despite this, Queensland Labor want to spend billions more on installing another 19 gigawatts into the grid by subsidising the private sector to do this. These billions should be spent on building dams, not on further energy generation which will only increase transmission costs, storage costs and auxiliary costs.

This is the real reason why energy prices are rising across the country: if you add more energy generators to the grid, you've got to have a bigger grid, you've got to have more storage and you've got to have more auxiliary services. So, there you go: if these assets are rendered worthless, it will bankrupt the state of Queensland. These assets that I'm talking about are the current assets we have in Queensland, which, might I add, generate power for $9 a megawatt. That is on page 120 of Alan Finkel's report—$9 a megawatt. For Kogan Creek, Stanwell and Callide, it's $17 a megawatt. That's cheaper than any other energy source in the country.

The Labor Party are a disgrace. They have no idea. Even after having their backsides handed to them on a plate at the last election, they still don't get it. Led by their chief yapping poodle, Senator Watt, they hide in their Twittersphere safe space with an ever-decreasing band of zealots spouting bile, incapable of rational argument. For several years now, the rising cost of living has constantly been the most common issue raised when I talk with Queenslanders. These sentiments are also reflected in the published polling, which consistently shows that cost of living is the No. 1 concern for Australians—more than any other issue and well ahead of climate change.

Essential expenses such as electricity are putting a huge drain on household budgets. Fifteen years ago Australia had some of the cheapest energy prices in the world. Over that time we have slipped dramatically and now have some of the most expensive, to the detriment of Australians, their businesses and our economy. Look no further than my home state of Queensland, where the Palaszczuk-Trad Labor government puts extreme green ideology above the needs of everyday Queenslanders. And where have we seen a near doubling of government returns on electricity in recent years? It's gouging. This amounts to a secret tax—a secret electricity tax that punishes small business and rips off our most vulnerable and disadvantaged, simply to funnel more revenue into another cash-hungry Labor government and big corporates in the renewable energy sector. In my first speech, I said that national interests should always come before vested interests, and I stand here today, pleased to be speaking on a bill which goes to the very heart of that statement. It is in our national interest to have cheaper power. Cheap power drives our economy and helps create jobs for Australians and takes the pressures off working families.