Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator O'Neill for the question. It is an important question, one around how government responds to the global challenge of the transition to a net zero economy—something that countries right around the world are dealing with right now. Our focus through the campaign was to focus on cost-of-living measures, whether they be Medicare, energy bill rebates, HECS debt relief and all of those areas we have invested in and will be delivering upon during this term. We also went to the election with a very clear agenda when it comes to tackling not only the challenges of climate change but also the opportunities that come with the net zero future. Over on this side of the chamber, we settled whether or not climate change was real some years ago and have been aligning our policy response to that.

Earlier in question time, Senator Cash said that they were going to get better as an opposition. There are some smart responses I could make to that, but I think Senator Canavan made that response on my behalf when he said the coalition is 'irrelevant' right now. Maybe that's a little bit harsh, Senator Canavan, on your colleagues. But this is the mob that had, in government, 22 energy policies and didn't land one of them. Remember that? They kept rethinking their energy policy. They'd take it to the party room, and it was all over. They did that 22 times in government. They didn't land one of them, and then in the last term, as opposition, they had another one: nuclear. That didn't go so well, did it? So, perhaps, there are 23 energy policies they haven't been able to land.

Yesterday, we saw them all scarper out of the chamber so that they didn't have to give a view on it. That's what we saw. This government supports the energy transition and the opportunities that come with it, including the jobs that our community— (Time expired)