Ellie Whiteaker (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to take note of answers provided in question time. I'm just mindblown at the absolute hypocrisy from those opposite on energy and on energy prices. They are the party who had 23 energy policies. They are the party who, just last week, were led by their minority coalition partner and dropped their commitment to net zero—a commitment that was made under two former Liberal prime ministers and that was legislated under the former Liberal government. They are a party who took a $600 billion nuclear plan to the last election that was wholeheartedly, overwhelmingly rejected by the Australian people when they went to the ballot box in May.

They are the party that has no plan to increase energy supply in this country and no plan for more, cheaper energy for Australian households and businesses. They are the party who, during their time in government, oversaw 24 out of 28 coal-fired power stations either announce their closure or bring forward their closure date, yet they had no plan and took no action to fix that problem as it arose. They are the party that opposed energy bill credits that our government put in place to take pressure off Australian households. Their plan is to continue to rely on aging coal-fired power stations—infrastructure that the private sector will no longer invest in. That is not a plan to reduce the energy costs of Australian households, Australian businesses and Australian industry.

Our plan is a plan that is backed by Australians, backed by industry and in line with the rest of the world. We are investing in large-scale renewables in wind and solar, backed by gas, hydro and batteries. Our plan is about providing support for households in the uptake of solar and batteries both to reduce their reliance on the grid—to take pressure off the grid—and to make their energy bills cheaper over the long term. These are not plans that we've seen under those opposite, either when they were in government or now, when they sit on the opposition benches. But it is a plan that has been overwhelmingly supported by the Australian people, because they are voting with their feet. Four million Australians have solar panels on their roof. Since our battery rebates came into effect just a couple of months ago, 130,000-odd Australians have put a battery in their house. That is about real, long-term energy bill relief—taking pressure off the grid, reducing their reliance on the grid and making their energy bills cheaper over the long term.

Every single household across this country has benefited from our energy bill rebates, which have kept their power bills lower than they would otherwise have been. In my home state of Western Australia, thanks to partnership with the Cook Labor government, that has meant thousands and thousands of dollars off people's power bills, much of which has been opposed by those opposite.

What we are seeing from those opposite is absolute chaos. It is a denial of the science and it is a denial of the momentum that we are seeing around the globe, and they have no plan to bring energy prices down for Australian households. They have no plan to increase energy supply in our country. That is in stark contrast to our plan, which is to build Australia's future, to invest in the renewables rollout and to help households keep their energy bills low, not just now but well into the future.

This is, of course, just part of broader cost-of-living relief that our government is providing. It's not just in energy that we're making things cheaper. It's in cheaper medicines, it's in reducing HECS debts and it's in bringing inflation down, and it's only our government that is doing that work. (Time expired)