Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make some remarks about this matter of public importance. It was a big mistake that the Labor Party decided it would promise to make a particular saving on people's electricity bills because, in this country, it is the market that is going to be funding the transition—that's what we want to happen—not the government. So without knowing how much capital the country was going to be able to attract, it was always going to be quite a fraught calculation. Of course, the reality is that this whole area of public policy has been a real nightmare for the country over the last 10 years—there has been too much politics—and that has hurt the country. Now this is another example of where a cheap, glib political attempt is going to unravel and damage the argument, because of course the promise that was made by the Labor Party before the last election will not be delivered in this parliament. It won't be delivered in the short term, for the reason I just gave you: that the government has no idea how much private capital the country will be able to attract to fund the transition. Anyone who has read the AEMO reports knows that this transition is going to cost an absolute bomb.

So this is a government that has already broken one promise on this issue. But the promises that it has delivered, it has delivered on behalf of its owners—its parent companies: the union movement and the super funds. It has already delivered on its promise to abolish the ABCC and on its promise to hide the superannuation funds' donations to the Labor Party and to the union movement. So it is a government for vested interests—delivering for the union movement; delivering for the super funds—and it is breaking promises that it made to Australians.

Now, on the matter of emissions reduction, which is a matter of great national importance, what is important is the outcome. It is the outcome that is important, not the embroidery. One of the key outcomes we are seeking here, as a country, in a race for global capital, is capital. We want the capital, and so we need to evaluate and make a judgement about what is going to be the best way to get that capital. One of the ways to not get the capital is to engage in cheap, juvenile, glib promises that you break only a few weeks after the election because of course you don't know what's going to happen in global markets; you don't know how the country will get the capital.

Mr Bowen, who's the minister, has said about the legislation that he introduced last week:

I've said repeatedly that we have designed our Powering Australia plan so that it can be implemented whether legislation passes or not …

So apparently the legislation is a maybe; it could be important, but it may not be. We don't know yet. We'll see how that goes.

But what is very important, and what is most important to me, is that we get the country on a medium- to long-term plan for having accelerated emissions reduction, because the 26 to 28 position is not a credible position; it needs to be higher than that. So we need to try to find some sort of accommodation where we are sending the right signal to the rest of the world that we are committed to emissions reduction and we are committed to enhancing our position over the long term.

But, in the short term, this matter of public importance is about a broken promise. It is about a broken promise to the Australian people that their bills will be cut in the short term, whereas, in fact, their bills will go up. Now, that is very regrettable when you consider that the promises for the donors and the owners of the Labor Party—the unions and the super funds—have been delivered in full. The Labor Party has already gutted the Your Super, Your Future reforms. The Labor Party has already gutted and abolished, in some form, the ABCC, and it has said that, if it can't abolish it in law, it will just de-fund it; it will go around the democratic process. So, if you are a person in Australia, you are not likely to have your election commitment fulfilled. But if you are a donor or an owner of the Labor Party—if you are a trade union or a super fund—you will have your promises delivered in full.