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

Australians deserve honesty about energy policy. The reality is that Labor's net zero cannot be achieved without devastating consequences for Australian families, farmers, businesses and manufacturers and, of course, our natural environment. It's driving up electricity prices, hollowing out our industrial base and undermining our energy security, yet the government continues to treat this fantasy as sacred doctrine.

Under Minister Bowen, billions have been funnelled into renewable subsidies and carbon schemes that deliver more political theatre than power. The result is a fragile grid, soaring household bills and a generation of young Australians who are told their country's future depends on shutting down the industries that sustain it: coal, gas and uranium. The resources that built modern Australia are demonised while we import solar panels, wind turbines and batteries from nations like China with poor labour conditions and far weaker environmental standards.

This is not environmental stewardship. It's economic self-harm disguised as virtue. Our responsibility is to the national interest—to provide affordable, reliable energy that sustains jobs, strengthens sovereignty and underwrites prosperity. Targets set to appease international forums do not heat homes, power factories or defend our nation. Energy policy must serve Australian families, not the applause of global elites. It's time to remove subsidies paid by hardworking Australian families to green energy grifters and wealthy international investors. We need an unapologetic return to energy realism; investment in dependable power, including next-generation nuclear; maintenance of our coal and gas capacity; and policies that reward Australian production rather than penalise it.

A strong domestic energy sector is essential to reindustrialising our regions, rebuilding manufacturing and making Australia once again a country that makes things, grows things and exports strength to the world.