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

I don't accept the premise of the question. We need to first understand what happened in the decade that the former coalition government were in power. Twenty-four of the 28 coal-fired power stations advised that they were going to close. Those opposite were unable to settle an energy policy in the national interest that allowed for the international transition to clean energy that we are witnessing and which is underway. That has meant that the energy policy was delayed in this country.

Since we've come to government, we've put a number of policy responses in place to deal with that, including a huge investment in renewable energy so that we can secure the jobs, the opportunities and the investments that come in this space. There is more work to do. In the meantime, we're supporting households with the pressure of the cost of living through energy bill rebates, investment in Medicare, investment in childcare and investment in housing.