Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Senator Ayres. Addressing climate change is a key priority of the Albanese Labor government. We have campaigned on our climate targets and they have been endorsed by the electorate twice. Achieving these targets while delivering low-cost energy for Australian households and businesses requires major renewable and transmission investment. What progress has the government made on delivering renewables and transition?

Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Grogan. It's a good opportunity to point out to the chamber that there are representatives from World's Youth for Climate Justice here in the chamber with us. They've been talking to senators and members. Young people—

The:

Order, Senator McKim!

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister Gallagher?

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

Senator McKim's interjections are disorderly, President, and he wasn't responding to you drawing him to your ruling, so I'm doing it on his behalf.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McKim, I asked you earlier in question time to come to order. You were yelling more loudly than the minister, who is miked up and you are not. This is not a football crowd. It's Senate question time.

Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is pretty graceless, when young people are having a go, coming to the parliament and expressing their view to members of parliament, senators and ministers, to be howling down an acknowledgement from the government that it is a good thing. Young people get it. Our young people get the imperative about climate change and energy. They also understand the scale of the challenge that is in front of Australia after a decade of policy inaction, disinvestment and capital flight caused by those opposite when they were in government.

We are setting about the task of building a new, low-cost and clean-energy-emission electricity system. There are all sorts of people who endorse this approach. It was endorsed, in fact, by a former leader of the government in the Senate and former Liberal finance minister, Secretary-General of the OECD Mathias Cormann, who said just this week:

What is important for Australia, for countries around the world, is not to continue the debate about whether or not to pursue the net zero objective, but how to do it in the best possible way.

Well, there you go. Over in the House of Representatives, it is the silly-billies Mr Joyce and all these other characters—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ayres, I cautioned you about the use of that term the other day and asked you to withdraw, so I'm going to ask you to withdraw again.

Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm trying really hard to use something that's good-natured. I will absolutely follow your injunction.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That means you have to follow up with 'I withdraw'.

Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry! I withdraw, absolutely. We're just going to see more of it. We are going to see it clearly here. Senator Canavan's up and about. Maybe we will do that every week, too—every day, maybe. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Grogan, a first supplementary?

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd also like to draw attention to the fact that we have another great champion of climate change and renewable energy, Anton van Bavel, up in the gallery. In building a new low-cost, clean-energy system, can the minister tell us what progress has been made on delivering affordable energy since the government's first term in 2022? (Time expired)

Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have made strong progress, and we are going to continue to make strong progress, even if we've got some of these characters opposite running around campaigning against electricity investment hundreds of kilometres from their homes, with social media memes imported from overseas they're punching out into regional communities. What have regional communities done to deserve the National Party? What have regional communities done to deserve the white-anting and undermining of their economic progress that the National Party has embarked upon? When will the moderates in the Liberal Party actually stand up for sensible economic policy and sensible climate and energy policy, get with the program and follow the lowest-cost model of modern electricity instead of indulging in this sort of far-right ideological frolic?

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Grogan, second supplementary?

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to the minister for laying that out for us. I think it's important to remember what some of our colleagues on the other side are actually trying to achieve at this point in time and the difficulty they're having in agreeing on anything. The Albanese Labor government has prioritised clear and coherent energy policy. The goal is to give investors and international partners confidence that they can engage. What parts of the community would be affected if Australia keeps incoherently and frequently changing energy policies? (Time expired)

Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was a very good question, and the truth is that the part of Australia that is hurt most because of the extreme advocacy of Senator Canavan and his colleagues in the National Party and the extreme parts of the Liberal Party is regional Australia. That's where they're out undermining jobs, undermining investment and undermining blue-collar work. There are some over there who actually understand it. Senator McLachlan knows this. He said:

As a young lawyer practising in Port Augusta, I witnessed the consequences of economic disruption and the resulting social impacts … Rather than debating whether we should have targets, we should be debating how best to bring our people with us and assist them during the transition.

That is at least remotely sensible. I look forward to more of Senator Canavan's net zero obsession. (Time expired)