Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week the National Party did what we have been doing for over a century. We took action, showed leadership and proposed to the Australian people a cheaper, better and fairer plan to power our nation's future. Families are paying too much for energy, jobs are being lost, and forests and farmlands are being destroyed. We need to bring common sense back to addressing the challenge of climate change.

Lowering emissions is not negotiable, but that burden of lowering emissions needs to be shared. It needs to be shared here domestically at home between poorer Australians and those with more means. It needs to be shared between the regions and the cities. Internationally, this task needs to be shared fairly amongst all nations, rather than the burden and the negative impacts being felt by a few.

The fact is that net zero by 2050 under the Labor Party has affected all facets of the Australian economy, and not in a good way. Groceries, power bills, even housing prices are all skyrocketing due to the flow-on effect of large government subsidies for renewable developments and to keep our industrial manufacturing capacity here onshore.

We want a cheaper, better and fairer way forward. The Nationals envisage an Australia where the cost of energy is shared. We envisage an Australia where heavy industrial jobs are defended. The Labor Party call themselves the party of the working class, yet when you look at Tomago, when you look at Whyalla, when you look at Bell Bay and aluminium smelting across the country, the facts show that they're not. The National Party has a plan for your future.