Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor's policies—net zero, out-of-control immigration and out-of-control spending—and their justifications by cherrypicking facts to suit their agenda are destroying Australia. They ignore the economic realities of their poor decisions that kick them in the face every day—the collapse of green hydrogen projects in Gladstone, Whyalla and Port Pirie; investors pulling out of the Pilbara green energy hub; the scrapping of the solar booster at Kogan Creek; the scrapping just last week of the offshore wind farm at Newcastle; and BlueFloat's withdrawal from the one planned off of Gippsland. This is just a sample, but these failures have been echoed around the developed world as countries and corporations realise that renewables and net zero are unviable and are destroying their economies. The only ones who fail to realise this are toxic Labor and the hateful Greens. I say to Sussan Ley, the opposition leader: if you don't know what impacts net zero policies are having an Australian businesses, farmers and homes by now, you are part of the problem. You're not the answer to making Australia the prosperous, self-sufficient nation we can all be proud of.

Here are the facts about net zero. Our emissions went up last year, not down. Net zero would cost taxpayers at least $1.5 trillion. Net zero has left our energy grids more vulnerable to weather and system shocks. Net zero has left one of the most energy-rich nations in the world facing energy shortages, and, since the introduction of the first large-scale renewable energy targets in 2001, the cost of electricity has risen by a minimum of 206 per cent. Outside of Europe, Australia has the highest average electricity prices in the world, at US$0.246 per kilowatt hour. It's more than double Canada's average price of $0.118.

The number of households in Australia facing energy poverty is always going up, never down. The impact on small businesses is just as bad and is compounded by reduced revenues as Australian consumers are forced to tighten their belts. More than 30,000 small businesses have gone under since Labor was elected in 2022. The impact on farmers is even worse. Not only are high energy costs crippling them; their land has been invaded by bureaucrats who think the transmission lines and wind turbines are more important than feeding people. The impact on manufacturing is catastrophic, compounded by a tripling of natural gas prices since large-scale exports started with the national domestic gas reserve policy. More than 1,400 manufacturing businesses in Australia have gone under since mid-2023. One of Labor's favourite businesses—a battery manufacturer, of all things—joined this list earlier this month. Manufacturing's share of our GDP has fallen from 8.9 per cent to just 5.1 per cent in the past 20 years, and, with it, Australian jobs are gone.

A rational government working in the national interest would abandon net zero. Labor is not rational, however, and does not care about the national interest. One Nation cares, and the energy policy we will implement works only in the national interest. We will shore up energy security and lower power bills by building two new black coal ultra-supercritical power plants at Collinsville in North Queensland and Port Augusta in South Australia. The cost of electricity generated by these USC plants is between $50 and $70 per megawatt hour—only half the average wholesale price in Australia in 2024. We will further shore up energy security by repealing the ban on nuclear energy and building one 1,400-megawatt advanced pressurised-water nuclear reactor on Australia's East Coast to start with. If Pakistan and South Korea can build nuclear power plants, why can't we?

Together, these three new plants will cost less than $10 billion.

We will easily be able to afford them by abolishing the department of climate change to save taxpayers $30 billion a year.

One Nation will amend the NEM rules, making gas and coal cheaper than large-scale wind and solar. We'll implement a 15 per cent domestic gas reserve. Our policies will reduce energy prices by at least 20 per cent across the board. At the household level, we will continue to support rooftop solar, but we'll ban chargers on posts and households from exporting energy to the grid. We'll ban renewables and transmission lines on Australian agricultural land, and we'll guarantee farmers property rights. Our energy policy puts our country and its people first. We will not allow Australia to be burned on the altar of climate change and net zero being driven by UN zealots wanting to control everything and forcing us into— (Time expired)