Sean Bell (NSW, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

One Nation has been clear: the cost of Labor and the Liberals' net zero experiment has been too great for Australian families and for Australian jobs. Now even the peak body for big energy companies, the Australian Energy Council, is admitting this and stating that we need a more honest and transparent public conversation about the real cost of this net zero madness. This should be ringing alarm bells in this place. For years, families, farmers and manufacturers have been told to swallow the rapid renewables rush and trust that cheaper power would magically follow, and it has not. The energy companies' own CEOs now admit that prices are set to keep climbing as billions are poured into renewables, more transition lines and more bureaucracy, but Australians do not see a transition; they see electricity bill shock.

Bills are in the thousands before they even turn on the heater for winter or the aircon for summer. Families are struggling, pensioners are being forgotten and small businesses are being smashed. For a cafe in the Illawarra, it is a choice between keeping the lights on or making a staff cut. For families in the Hunter and many families across Australia, this is a choice between groceries, fuel or their children's sporting fees. Australia's largest aluminium smelter is now asking whether it can keep the doors open beyond 2028, because it cannot lock in affordable energy. This is 1,000 jobs and livelihoods on the line. These are real people. If the company producing such a big share of our aluminium can no longer make the numbers work, the problem isn't Tomago; the problem is net zero. And what One Nation has been saying for years is simple: you cannot run our country on slogans and wishful thinking. Energy policy should begin with three non-negotiables. It needs to keep the lights on, keep the bills down and keep Australian jobs here. And we will give reminding this place that it is long past time this parliament stopped selling fairytales and started telling Australians the truth.