Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Just a few years ago when I finished school—actually maybe it was a bit longer ago than that—I did an apprenticeship in electronic servicing. If I'd had a dollar for every time that someone brought in some equipment and said, 'I've replaced the fuse multiple times, but I still have the same problem,' it would have been a handy little bonus on top of the small salary I used to receive as an apprentice. People would just replace the fuse without actually dealing with the underlying problem. The reason why a fuse blows is that there's an oversupply of current going through the circuit—it's beyond the capacity of the circuit and therefore the fuse blows. This is what is going on right now when it comes to energy policy in this country. This government keeps doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

There is a root cause of the problem that is here, and that problem is that prices are going through the roof and people are seeing their energy bills go up time and again. We've seen a 40 per cent increase in people's electricity bills. The Labor Party might like to try to convince people that their own eyes are deceiving them when they're looking at their power bill and it's clear before them that it has gone up, but their own eyes do not tell a lie—people can see that the cost of energy has gone up. The reason this is occurring is that the blind ideology of this government, which has it continuing to go down a path of pursuing the so-called lowest cost of energy, is actually driving up the cost of energy. That's why people are seeing the result on their power bills. That's why we're seeing large industrial-scale projects under pressure. You only need to go to the front page of the West Australian newspaper site today to see that Lynas, a rare earths producer in the Goldfields, have said that they have an unreliable supply of energy and it is driving up their costs. We need rare earths. We've just signed a deal with the United States. These sorts of projects are at risk because of the high cost and unreliability of the energy grid. This pursuit of net zero, without reliability and with increased costs, is just like replacing that fuse time and time again. It just keeps blowing, and Australians are feeling the pressure of that every single day.

We have to get serious about addressing the high cost of energy and the unreliability that is now occurring in our electricity grid. It's not fair that Australians are facing these high costs, because they were promised, ahead of the previous election, that their power bills would in fact go down by $275. Of course, Australians are seeing that that has not occurred. They've not seen the promised lower cost of energy. This Labor government has spent $75 billion, and it's only delivered higher prices, stalled emissions and uncertainty for households. Industry in the regions is facing the pressure of this government's energy policies. It's proposed that, to reach their 2035 target, a further $530 billion in additional spending will be required. That is only going to drive up the cost. That's $50,000 per Australian household to meet the objectives of Labor's ideology.

What we need is reliable power. What we need is cheaper power. What we need is affordable power so that Australians can pay their way and make ends meet. Unfortunately, under this government, that is all out of control. We're seeing large industrial-scale projects—like the ones that we need out in the Goldfields, with this Lynas project—under pressure, under threat, because of the pursuit of this policy of net zero. What we need to see is some sensibility come into our energy policy, and that is what the coalition is offering. We're calling it quits when it comes to the pursuit of blind ideology. We need to pursue lowest-cost affordable and reliable energy and not cost Australians their livelihoods. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.