It's always a pleasure to talk about energy policy in this parliament, particularly this MPI that goes to energy policy plans. I'm going to give those opposite a bit of a history lesson. They seem to think the Australian people suffered a round of amnesia in May this year. They seem to think the Australian people have forgotten about the last 9½ years of dysfunction under those opposite.
I'm glad to say the Australian people haven't forgotten. They remember the 9½ long years of chaos and dysfunction. Energy policy is the greatest example of that. Unfortunately households and businesses are experiencing the pain caused by the chaos and dysfunction right now—that chaos and dysfunction that led to 22 energy policies in 9½ years.
I've got some favourites in there. Some of them were spectacular. My favourite was Josh Frydenberg's emissions intensity scheme, a scheme so broadly supported by the then government that it lasted 14 hours. I've slept almost longer than that policy lasted as official government policy. My other favourites: three policies they had in August 2018 over 14 days—NEG 1, NEG 2 and NEG 3. What happened with NEG 3? When it became apparent that it was actually going to pass the House, that it was going to be enshrined in law, what did they do? They knocked off Prime Minister Turnbull. Instead of cementing an energy policy that wasn't half bad—it wasn't great but it was a potential solution—they knifed their Prime Minister. They knocked him off and replaced him with the member for Cook.
They're some of my favourites, but I've got two that are extra special in my heart. There's the $1 billion UNGI initiative, which I think the member opposite had something to do with. It promised 3,800 megawatts of new generation. How many megawatts do you think it delivered? 2,000? 1,000? 500? Zero. Zip. Nada. Seriously. The member opposite could have pedalled on an exercise bike and produced more electricity than UNGI delivered for the Australian people at a cost of $1 billion. Then there's my other favourite, the leather jacket moment—Snowy Hydro 2.0. It's running 18 months late.
As a result of all this, we've seen 4,000 megawatts of power retired and only 1,000 megawatts of new energy generation come into the system. My own region of the Hunter Valley—the powerhouse of the country—has ageing power stations that have huge reliability issues. These power stations are reaching the natural end of their planned life. This is what their engineers are saying. This isn't politics. These power stations are approaching the end of their planned life, and the companies that own them have said it doesn't make economic sense to upgrade and modify them. But the truth is they're under extreme pressure now because of the coalition government's 9½ years of chaos and dysfunction.
If you want further demonstration of that, you just have to look at what went on in May 2019, when the then minister for energy, now the Shadow Treasurer, promised a cut in wholesale energy prices of 25 per cent, leading to $70 a megawatt hour of wholesale energy prices. He promised that would lead to a 17 per cent cut in retail energy prices. How did he go? Three years on, on the eve of losing the election in May 2022, instead of cutting wholesale energy prices by 25 per cent, they jacked them up by 267 per cent. Missed by that much! Instead of cutting retail energy prices by 17 per cent, retail prices went up by 19 per cent. That's the price rise that the member for Hume hid before the election in one of the most mendacious efforts I've seen in Australian political life. Not only did he hide it from the Australian people before the election but he continues to deceive and to try and hide it right now. He was interviewed by Kieran Gilbert in September and he was asked about this 19 per cent price rise. He was accused of hiding it by changing the law, by signing a regulation, and he said of Chris Bowen to Kieran Gilbert:
"He's just wrong. He's talking about a report that was put out by the AER, not by the government. So he should get his facts right. The thing is, Chris Bowen's got none of these facts right".
Kieran Gilbert asked:
"That wasn't at your direction, the delay?"
Angus Taylor replied:
"No. This is a report from the AER, not from the government."
There's only one little problem with that. There's a thing called Hansard and there's a thing called theGazette. And the Gazette has an unfortunate history of recording decisions of the executive council. I've got the regulation, the Competition and Consumer (Industry Code – Electricity Retail) Amendment (Determination) Regulations 2022, and it does literally two things.
Rob Mitchell interjecting: Who signs it?
Pat CONROY: Who signs it? I'll get to that, Member for McEwen. He's stealing my lines! The member for McEwen is always at least one step ahead of me.
An opposition member interjecting—
Pat CONROY: It doesn't say much for me; no, it doesn't! This regulation does two things. It literally changes two sentences in the act. It omits '1 May' and substitutes 'the first business day after 25 May'. What happened just before 25 May? What was happening then? A tiny thing called a federal election. It omits '56 days' and substitutes '30 days'. And who signed it? I think the member for McEwen knows. Who signed it? Angus Taylor, the member for Hume, the minister for energy. But, no, he didn't cause the delay! That is the level of respect that the coalition has for the Australian people. They hid the 19 per cent power price rise that was occurring under their watch.
This energy policy chaos on the other side has been occurring at the same time as Putin's illegal war in Ukraine. His illegal invasion in Ukraine is driving up gas and coal prices. So families and businesses, unfortunately, have been hit with a double whammy of Vladimir Putin and Angus Taylor, and it's an awful double whammy. In contrast, we're being upfront. We're producing strong measures to put rigour into energy policy and to attack energy prices to provide some certainty for investors. We're reforming the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism. We've put in place new heads of agreement, but, ultimately, the key to reducing pressure on power prices is increasing renewable energy in the grid. Everyone knows the cheapest form of new energy is renewable energy.
Barnaby Joyce interjecting—
Pat CONROY: I've heard 'It's not' from the member for New England—the gift that keeps on giving. We'll drive the renewable energy into the grid through the $20 billion Rewiring the Nation fund, through $200 million for community batteries, through $100 million for community solar banks and through $62 million of energy efficiency grants from small and medium-sized enterprises. That is our policy—to drive renewable energy into the grid to put downward pressure on energy prices.
That's our policy. What's the policy of those opposite? They are the alternative government, and I'm hoping the opposition leader speaks about this tonight in his budget reply. I hope he's going to be honest with the Australian people. What's their one energy policy? Nuclear power.
Barnaby Joyce interjecting: Nuclear power—three syllables!
Pat CONROY: Nuclear power—that's what the member for Fairfax has in mind. That's what the member for New England is evangelical about. There are only a couple of problems with it! Firstly, it will triple the cost of power in this country, at least. Secondly, I'm yet to find a community that wants to house a nuclear power station. I've got two people opposite me who represent regions close to mine. Here's my question to the member for Page.
Kevin Hogan interjecting—
Pat CONROY: He's got plenty of water sources in his electorate. You need plenty of water for a nuclear power station. Does the member for Page want a nuclear power station on the North Coast? Does the member for New England want a nuclear power station in Tamworth?
Barnaby Joyce interjecting—
Pat CONROY: He said he's happy to have one. Let the record show that the member for New England is happy to have a nuclear power station in Tamworth, or Armidale, or both, perhaps. This is the quality of debate we have from those opposite: smears, lies and policies that will put up power prices and endanger communities. That is what we're facing. Instead, we will have responsible government acting in the national interest.