Leah Blyth (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Stronger Families and Stronger Communities) Share this | Hansard source

Today I rise to speak about the challenge confronting every household, every business and every community in Australia: the rising cost of power, which skyrocketed more than 40 per cent during the first term of the Albanese government. Net zero is driving a rapid and uncompromising shift to renewable energy. It's reshaping our economy, our communities and our way of life. It is a shift that demands honesty about who pays, who benefits and who bears the burden. Those opposite must be honest with the Australian people, with farmers, with small-business owners and with families. They must admit that this energy transition is not free, it is not magical and it is not painless. It is sending manufacturing offshore, driving agriculturalists off their land, sending businesses broke and driving families and businesses to the brink. On top of this, it is being funded by the taxpayer, which, make no mistake, means your money. Whether it's through higher inflation and taxes, steeper power bills or lost economic opportunity, the cost is real and the burden is growing.

Inflation is largely being driven by the energy transition. Labor cannot be believed when it comes to the cost of their energy and emissions reduction policies. They went to the 2022 election with three promises: a $275 cut to power bills, which I, like many other Australians, am still waiting for; an 82 per cent renewables target by 2030; and a 43 per cent emissions reduction. So far, we are yet to achieve any of those targets, and it is fair to say that the renewables target won't be reached. Every extra dollar spent on ever-rising energy bills is a dollar less for groceries, for child care and for mortgage repayments. It's not just about households feeling the pinch. Businesses large and small are grappling with unpredictable costs, shrinking margins and mounting pressure to absorb new compliance requirements. Subsidies for solar panels and electric vehicles, while appealing on paper, often benefit wealthier households, leaving working families behind. The good intentions behind the energy transition do not pay the bills; families do, and many of them are already stretched beyond their limits. Those opposite speak of equity and inclusion, but the reality is that families on the minimum wage, those working two jobs just to make ends meet, are not the ones installing rooftop solar or buying Teslas. They are the ones who pay more at the checkout, more on their rent and more on their power bills.

This transition, as it stands, is deepening inequality. Our farmers, the lifeblood of Australia's food security, under the net zero agenda, face strict limits being imposed on their land use and their livestock emissions. That means slashing herd sizes to cut methane, gutting income and driving up beef prices for everyday Australians. Green farming sounds good in a press release, but for the farmer on the ground it can mean tens of thousands of dollars in costs with no guarantee of return. And the bureaucracy! Complex carbon farming schemes, consultants, forms and red tape. We're asking our farmers to be environmental auditors just to stay afloat. It's absurd. Worse still, prime agricultural land, land that feeds us all, is being swallowed up by wind turbines and solar farms. Farmers are losing the very ground they depend on, all to meet a target funded by their own taxes. And when our local producers go under, we will all pay more. The impact on small business is equally stark. Switching from gas to electric, swapping diesel vehicles for electric or installing new compliant equipment all comes with an upfront cost many small operators simply cannot afford.

The subsidies propping up this transition are staggering, and emissions under Labor are actually rising. This is not a call to abandon environmental responsibility. Every Australian wants a sustainable future, clean air, preserved landscapes and a healthy environment for generations to come, but sustainability must be more than environmental. It must also be economic and social, and it must be fair. We need practical solutions, and we need to invest in base-load power, not just intermittent sources. We need to reduce regulatory burdens on small businesses, and we need to ensure that farmers, families and communities are partners in this transition, not casualties of it.