Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister representing the Treasurer (Senator Gallagher) to a question without notice asked by Senator McKenzie today relating to energy policy.

Here we are, talking about numbers. Last week's CPI figures confirmed electricity costs have risen annually by 23.6 per cent—almost a quarter in just one year. What we're seeing is the effect of that. We're seeing the effect of Labor's energy policy in both directions. We're seeing things like the Tomago aluminium smelter saying they can no longer get an energy contract to remain viable beyond 2028, and so 1,400 direct jobs and up to 5,000 indirect jobs are on the line. The only reason that is making news, rather than all the small ones, is that it is so big. What we're seeing is that energy-intensive industries right across the employment sector, including the smaller ones that you won't see, who have five, 10 or 20 employees; engineering firms; bakeries; and things that require gas, are all under the same pressure. In whole, it would be as many jobs as Tomago, but small enough individually to sit under the radar.

On the other side of that, we see Rainforest Reserves Australia coming out and talking about the amount of land these large-scale renewables projects are using and the environmental damage they are causing. They are starting to see the wind towers inserted on the Great Dividing Range, the solar panels across agricultural lands and all of these things being a massive detriment to the environment, the economy and the country.

We have environmental damage creeping up on one side. We have their policy and the consequences to the economy on the other side. They are closing in, with a pincer movement, on just how bad Labor's policy has been. In the middle, the centrepiece of this, is their emissions reduction strategy, which has gone nowhere for four years. This year, Australians will spend $9 billion in subsidies. Mums and dads, people out there and businesses will pay over a thousand dollars extra on their power bills—23 per cent just in the last year alone—for what? For a flatlining result. For nothing. For nada. If you go back to 2022, we were at a very similar level of emissions to where we are now.

Let's go through without the spin or the hype of Labor's energy policy. Let's go through the facts. Power bills are up; people are paying more. Subsidies are up by $9 billion, and that's not counting all the ones for businesses, like the $2 billion clean energy fund. That's just on emissions stuff. We have environmental people coming out and saying that this policy isn't working. We have no change in the emissions. Forget the talking points. We always come here and talk about the talking points. Let's get down to tintacks. The policy that this government has is wrong and the settings are wrong, but someone is so invested in being right that they can't admit it.

It wouldn't take a lot to change a few things. It wouldn't take a lot to go back to an absolute emissions reduction fund that would pay people who want to abate and who can abate to get involved and do it. If you take just the sheer numbers, which are, again, $9 billion, on their numbers, and you take the current Australian carbon credit unit value, of about $30 per tonne, and apply it to the numbers we heard today in the answer—that we wanted to reduce by, say, five million tonnes; let's up it a bit and say $50 for a carbon credit unit, for a tonne—you're talking about no more than $250 million. That is, essentially, what it would cost, in carbon credit units, to abate the amount that this government say they want to abate.

But what do we spend? We spend $9 billion to get $250 million worth of benefits. Where is the common sense? Rainforest Reserves are out there saying it will cost $1.3 trillion to achieve the energy transition. According to Net Zero Australia, the cost to the economy comes out at $7 trillion to $9 trillion. That's $250,000 per person. I'm counting $7 million worth of people in the galleries, but that's a rough guess. That is what we're talking about as the cost to the economy. So what part of this policy is working? If we were going through all this pain and reducing emissions, I might see something. If we were taking this pain and industry was taking off, I'd see something. If we were actually spending money on making our environment better, I would see something. This policy is not working in any area, and we will get up and we will hear 'cleaner, cheaper, cleaner, cheaper', but it is not. That is just a smokescreen to cover for a failed policy, and we need to do better. That's why we on this side are looking for ways to do things in a way that's cheaper, better and fairer for our country so that we can all thrive.

Lisa Darmanin (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to talk about this government's approach to energy policy and energy prices. They're more than just talking points; they're actually the reality of what we are doing to deliver for Australians. While the Albanese Labor government has taken strong action to provide energy bill relief to Australians, households and businesses, what we've seen from those opposite is opposition every step of the way. They're not talking points; they are the reality.

We've provided three rounds of energy bill relief to homes and small businesses to take the sting out of bills now, while we're doing the long overdue reform work to bring down energy bills for good. This goes to the core of the energy future for this country. We've also acted to cap coal and gas prices, shielding Australians from the worst of the global energy crisis. For those households who are watching now, some of the things that you can do is check that you're on the cheapest energy plan that is available to you. The recent ACCC data shows that some 80 per cent of households could we paying less on a different deal right now. The government's energy.gov.au website and the AER's Energy Made Easy website can help billpayers to find the cheapest plans, and we urge you to go and do that.

In the longer term we are also rolling out critical investments in renewable energy, because the sun and the wind don't send a bill, and we've acted to make the energy market fairer. Our new rules, coming into effect in 2026, will make sure that retailers aren't ripping off customers and are going to driving down energy bills. These changes include banning unfair fees and card surcharges, stopping sneaky price hikes and making sure that hardship customers are receiving the best offer that their retailer can provide.

In contrast, we see that the former coalition government left Australians with a power system overexposed to offshore price shocks, exposed to reliability gaps and overly reliant on ageing and increasingly unreliable coal plants, with no plan for a future that is sustainable for our country. They ignored the experts and refused to take advantage of our abundant sun and wind, leaving households paying the price for a grid that's too reliant on expensive, unreliable and ageing coal. We know that those opposite initially voted against the Energy Bill Relief Fund in 2022 and at the election. To this day they say that the solution to Australian energy bills is the most expensive and slowest possible—nuclear.

Only Labor has a plan for an affordable and reliable energy system that's backed by the experts and backed by the Australian economy. The Liberals' nuclear plan would only deliver four per cent of the capacity needed by 2050. The CSIRO figures show that the cost of power from nuclear reactors is up to eight times more expensive than firmed renewables and that the cost of the single plan could be as high as $16 billion. If you want to talk about lowering energy prices, you certainly don't want to be following those opposite.

We know that GenCost has consistently found that renewables, including the cost of transmission and storage, are the cheapest form of new energy generation. This is an important transition in our national interest. Whether it's looking at the International Energy Agency, merchant banks, Baringa, a comprehensive study by Danish academics into the economics of Denmark's energy needs, the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies's work or extensive research published in the respected energy journal Joulethe most recent research by Griffith University's Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research suggests that the cost of generating electricity would be as much as 50 per cent higher today if Australia had relied solely on coal and gas instead of pursuing renewables. So it's hardly for those opposite to come here and talk about the price of energy bills for everyday Australians when all they're worried about is themselves.

I would also say that Treasury modelling finds that the wholesale electricity prices will be much lower under an orderly transition, compared to the disorderly transition that our political opponents want. It's unclear where it's disorderly or where it's actually non-existent at the moment, given the discussions over the weekend from those opposite. However, under the orderly scenarios, long-term prices are forecast to be 10 per cent lower than the 10-year historical average, in line with the Australian Energy Market Commission's 10-year forecast and the long-term cost of firmed renewables. Australians know who is looking after their energy prices, and it is on this side of the chamber that that is the case.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Cadell predicted that we'd get a rolling out of the talking points, and that's exactly what we got. There was a point of discussion about reality, but, unfortunately for the Australian people, reality is the problem.

Labor promised 97 times before the 2022 election that they would reduce energy prices by $275 by 2025. Here we are, in 2025. What have we seen? In the last year alone, power prices have gone up by 23.6 per cent. That's the reality that the Australian people are facing. And guess what? At Christmas, just a few weeks down the track—frighteningly—because Labor, to get themselves through the last election campaign, only put up six months of energy price subsidy, the energy subsidies will be gone, and what will the Australian people be left with? Higher power bills. It was always going to be the case. Once the energy subsidies disappear, the Australian people are left with higher energy prices—over $1,300 a year higher under this Labor government. Subsidies will be gone, and power bills will still be there at a higher level—23.6 per cent in the last 12 months.

When the kids are going back to school, with all the expenses and costs for the kids to start school again, the higher power prices will still be there. When the credit card comes in for Christmas, the higher power prices will still be there. Yet we heard the Labor Party 97 times before the 2022 election say that they would reduce Australians' power bills by $275 by 2025. That's the reality. That's the reality that Australians are facing.

You cannot believe a single word that this government says with respect to energy. You can't believe Mr Bowen. You can't believe the Prime Minister. You can't believe the Treasurer. You can't believe anyone opposite. They'll trot out the talking points. They'll blame everybody else. But it was their promise that they would reduce power prices for Australians by $275 by 2025.

What are we seeing with respect to industry? Industry are starting to walk out the door because energy prices, the foundation of this country's economy, are too high, and it's now too expensive to do business in this country. That's what Tomago is saying. That's what Bell Bay Aluminium in my home state of Tasmania is saying. The minister trotted out earlier this year saying, 'Here's a program so that we can support business and industry in this country to get through, because we want to have a built in Australia—made in Australia—campaign. What are they doing? They're having to subsidise industry to cover the costs of their power bills because their energy policy is too expensive. It's the same thing over and over again. They just don't seem to be able to join the dots. They make a whole series of bad decisions through their governance of the country. They're spending too much money. They're keeping interest rates higher for longer because of the expenditure. The Reserve Bank has said that on a number of occasions. They're energy policy is wrong and driving up costs to business. They had to subsidise the Australian community for 2½ years. That's now coming off. They got through the election. They don't need to worry about you for a while now. But the credit card bill will come in after Christmas, and the kids going back to school will still have all those increased costs. Energy prices are up 23.6 per cent over the last 12 months.

It's no wonder that Ken Henry said:

If you have to provide a permanent or semi-permanent rebate for something, then you're saying that your policy settings are wrong … your energy policy settings are wrong …

That's Ken Henry. He's not necessarily a friend of this side of politics, but that's what he's saying about the government. And the government need to shape up with respect to this matter.

Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I just want to make a few points that Senator Colbeck and Senator Cadell made. It's convenient when people come into this place and try and recast history and try to pretend that, somehow, the cost of energy was solely this government's problem—when we came to government in 2022. It's just worth placing on the record that what was forecast by Treasury, when we were elected in 2022, was that this government was looking at one of the highest increases to energy prices ever seen by an incoming government. In fact, Treasury had estimated that, without the government's reforms that were—some of the members of this place would remember that we had a special sitting of the parliament very late in December in the year 2022. Energy prices were forecast to go up by around 20 per cent by the year 2022-23 and then by 36 per cent by the year 2023-24. If it weren't for the government's intervention in our reform packages that were passed by the parliament late in 2022—when we came to government, the former coalition government had left an energy sector that was exposed to offshore price shocks and that was exposed and overly reliant on an ageing and increasingly unreliable plants, mainly in coal.

At the election—and it's what we see time and time again now from those opposite—the opposition were not able to articulate a very clear set of policies that would bring back and reduce the cost of electricity in this country. We had some sort of half-cooked nuclear power policy. They were not able to provide a straight answer about whether they were going to continue the government's $300 energy rebate. Fast forward some years later and what we see is a coalition that is not only divided, but in chaos. They are tearing themselves apart, and we had the National Party, over the weekend, embracing a policy that would, effectively, say no to net zero—no to zero! Who would be against a policy that would ensure our country would have a position of saying that we can get to a position of net zero—not saying that 'we want to reduce energy pricing' or that 'we want to reduce our emissions here in this country', but a completely flat out 'no to net zero'.

We also see now, I think, one of the best quotes going around at the moment, from an unnamed coalition MP—and I think it was attributed to a Liberal MP, nonetheless—in the Australian.

It may not be you, Senator Scarr, but I want to place it on the record. The quote goes like this:

The first rule of being a parasite is not to kill off your host.

I have seen a lot of memes floating around online. In fact, I think there's a potential movie or a film call 'Parasite by Senator Canavan'. I'm not directing that at Senator Canavan, just to be clear, but that's the meme that is going around at the moment. But what you can see is the disdain, the confusion and the chaos that is happening right now from those opposite, because, quite frankly, they have no idea what their energy policy is.

Unfortunately, there are people in the gallery and people watching today who are wanting to have one simple question asked—where does the coalition stand when it comes to electricity? Where do they stand when it comes to investment in gas? Where do those opposite stand when it comes to the future of this country? Business, right now, want some certainty. They want to understand where we, as elected members of this place, are positioned. When we bring in a set of legislation, like we have with the EPBC Act, where do those opposite stand? Are they going to be dividing or crossing the floor? Quite frankly, we have no idea where those opposite stand at this point in time. We don't even know if the Leader of the Opposition, Sussan Ley, in the other place, will remain the Leader of the Opposition come Christmas.

You are sending a very bad message to those right across the country, particularly those in the business community and our future generations. We see the schoolkids here today looking down upon us. They're looking to us for hope and to make sure we do the right thing by them. (Time expired)

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Clearly, not enough people have seen the movie Alien.

Leah Blyth (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Stronger Families and Stronger Communities) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of questions asked by the coalition in question time today, and I will take some of the comments from those opposite in terms of where the coalition stands in relation to energy policy.

Under this Labor government, power bills are up, emissions are up, and productivity has flatlined. We're talking about billions of dollars in rebates with no intrinsic value for the taxpayer. When those opposite stand up and purport that the sun and the wind do not cost anything, I would put to them: why is it going to cost $1.33 trillion just to get solar panels and wind turbines? That number does not include transmission lines. The sun and the wind are going to cost $1.33 trillion. When those opposite put these things to the Australian people—those opposite stood up at the election and said that they would lower power bills by $275. They then came into this chamber and said that they were always expecting power prices to rise. Why did they lie to the Australian people? Why did they mislead the Australian people into believing that they would have cheaper electricity under this Labor government?

This government's reckless pursuit of net zero at any cost is costing Australian businesses. It's costing Australian families. It is costing everyday hardworking taxpayers. We've got this government taking over farmland—agricultural, beautiful, pristine parts of Australia—to put in solar panels and wind turbines. This government is proposing to destroy our natural environment—all in the name of having what they call the cheapest form of energy. And I say: if it is the cheapest form of energy, why have our power bills gone up 23.6 per cent? If this is truly the cheapest form of energy for the Australian people, we should be seeing costs coming down. We are not seeing costs fall.

We are seeing costs rise, and we are seeing costs rise across the board because when electricity is expensive, it's more expensive to do everything. It's more expensive to produce milk. It's more expensive to transport our products. It's more expensive for businesses to keep the lights on. We are seeing inflation go through the roof in our country. We are a wealthy, resource-rich nation, and this Labor government is driving us into poverty. We are going to see living standards fall drastically. That's what productivity tells us. When productivity flatlines, we know that our living standards are the next thing that are going to fall.

On this side of the chamber, we stand for everyday, hardworking Australians. We stand for sensible policy in relation to energy. We stand for sensible policy in relation to the environment, and we will stand every single day with the Australian people to make sure that they have access to cheap, reliable energy. That is something that this Labor government is not able to deliver for the Australian people. Even their own spending in terms of what they are doing to our economy—they are spending at four times the rate of the growth of our economy.

We are expecting to see here in Australia a debt set to reach $1.2 trillion. I have three children, and I worry because my three children are inheriting that debt. I certainly worry about their children, which will be my grandchildren, and what that is going to mean for them. We were the lucky country. That's why my grandparents and my parents migrated here—for the opportunities that were afforded to all Australians who came to our sure. But, when I think about that debt and I think about the impact that that is going to have on my children and my children's children, it scares me.

This out-of-control spending is hurting everyday Australians, and it has to stop. Emissions are up, power bills are up and productivity has flatlined. This Labor government has to accept that they have the policy settings all wrong and the Australian people are the ones who are paying the price. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.