Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to move an amendment:

At the end of the motion, add "and the Electricity Infrastructure Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 be referred immediately to the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 17 April 2025".

In speaking to this amendment, I just want to make the point, which was actually helpfully highlighted by the last government speaker, that this legislation has nothing to do with the problems being faced by Australian people—the households and businesses, of course, that are struggling under the cost of living. The last government speaker on the legislation we are now seeking to refer to a committee had nothing to do with addressing the problems being faced in this country. Again, this is why we should send this legislation to a committee for an inquiry—so stakeholders, including Australian households, who are paying more for electricity, can have their say about this legislation, which does nothing to address the problems being faced by Australian households. The cost of living is something that again, as predicted, did not feature in the contribution by the Australian Greens on this debate.

This is why it's important. As demonstrated by what is happening here today—led by the Australian Greens cheerfully pushing their agenda and supported by the Australian Labor Party blindly following this ideological road to economic destruction, to households not being able to pay their power bills, to people being out of jobs—this is another step in that pathway. As I said before, it is a preview of what is to come. We have seen it here in the ACT at the territory level. We have seen it in Tasmania at a state level. We have seen Labor-Green governments and their agenda around legislation like this, which does require scrutiny. If the last government speaker in the substantive debate on this legislation was happy to point out that this has nothing to do with the cost of living then tell us exactly why this is good legislation. Tell us why we need to do it. Justify it to the community through the process of transparency.

Let's not of forget, of course, that it was the Prime Minister who said this government would usher in a new age of transparency. I don't know who the usher is, but they're doing a terrible job, because there is no transparency. Here we are again, at the end of this week, at the end of this parliamentary term, in probably the last sitting day before we go to the polls, Australia, with this government rushing through this legislation. Now, I could understand if it were legislation to do with the problems being faced by Australian households and businesses—that is, legislation that would assist with the cost of living—but apparently, according to the government, this has nothing to do with the cost of living. So, again, the government should be justifying to the Australian people why this legislation should pass. They should be justifying to this Senate why this legislation should pass and not rush it through. That's why Senate committees, like we are proposing today, should be able to look at the legislation, interrogate this and ask the government if there's any modelling that's been done about what this would do to the cost of living, what this would do to grid reliability, what this would do to manufacturing jobs in this country, what this would do to their flimsy, glossy, Future Made in Australia agenda. Of course, on one hand, they are strangling our economic drivers—small business, manufacturing—with things like the safeguard mechanism; their ridiculous nature-positive agenda, which has failed, thankfully; and all of the rest of the antibusiness, antijob, pro-Greens agenda that this government has been running. That's why the coalition would desperately love to see this legislation sent to committee for inquiry. If the Prime Minister and others are to be believed, we've got time for this. We're going to be back for estimates; there'll be further sittings of the Senate, so let's send this off. Let's have a discussion.

Why rush this through? It is unbelievable that this government would lock in behind the Australian Greens to rush this through when it does nothing to assist Australian households and businesses. Again, it demonstrates this government's tone-deaf approach to dealing with the issues being experienced by households and businesses across this country. They've been crying out for solutions. If the government wants to tell us that this legislation is the solution to the problems being faced by the Australian people, then let us do that through a Senate inquiry process. Come and justify what it is you're trying to rush through this place. Don't jam it through in here today just because your coalition partners, the Greens, want that to happen. Australians know something is up, because they're the ones who are paying higher power bills. They're the ones whose employers are saying: 'Times are getting tough. We are not able to compete with overseas imports because electricity is too expensive.'

Tell us how this legislation is going to help with any of that. Tell us how this is actually a solution. Tell us how it honours the promise made by the Prime Minister that power prices would go down by $275—a promise he made 97 times. Tell us how it actually honours your agenda, and we'll back it in.