Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

It does feel somewhat like groundhog day: the National Party in the Senate are again asking inaccurate questions about energy and being very successful in dragging the Liberal Party to the economically irrational Right. If I may congratulate you, you've certainly managed to get the Liberal Party to pick up your irrational policies! I think they are irrational. They are not good for the country, but, as a political strategy, you've certainly managed to get them there.

Unfortunately, it isn't good for the country, and what we know is that, under the uncertainty that your government imposed on the Australian economy as a result primarily of National Party engagement and National Party campaigning, you had so much policy uncertainty that there was an effective investment strike. You had 22 out of 24 coal-fired power stations close—I'll correct that if I'm wrong.