Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker, and what an embarrassing performance by the Member for Mallee. I congratulate him on his promotion, I congratulate him on his promotion, but let’s just pause for a second. This is a debate about climate change and energy policy, and the second speaker for the Government is on the record as saying, I quote, “As, I’m a self-described sceptic of policy response to climate change”. Sceptic of policy responses to climate change. And he questions the science regarding the impact of humans. So the second speaker for the Government, on a debate about energy and climate change, questions the science, doesn’t think we can do anything on policy, and has just called for in his speech, the construction of a new coal-fired power station. This is the quality of debate from those in Government. What a disgrace.
Well I can tell him, if you want to build a new coal-fired power station, that is a recipe for higher pollution, and higher power prices. A recipe for both. This is the state of the debate from the Government. And we only had to see the Ministers contribution. The Member for Dickson’s numbers man, a man who couldn’t even count to forty three in the party room, is now in charge of getting power prices down. God help us all Mr Deputy Speaker. If you can’t count to forty three, how can you get power prices down, and I can you can’t. And this is the shame of this debate. Because the Government here has had five energy policies in two years, five energy policies in two years. In fact they had four in the months of August and September. Four in a month and a half Mr Deputy Speaker. What a disgrace.
But the new Minister at least is clear. He’s completely surrendered on emissions policy. He’s completely surrendered on emissions policy, and the tragedy of this is, that not only means higher pollution, it means higher power prices. It means higher pollution, and higher power prices. Because what is going on now, is if you don’t invest in renewable energy, if you don’t attempt to provide any certainty to the market what you see is higher power prices. And don’t just ask my opinion, don’t just take it from me. The Australian Energy Market Commission said the result of this uncertainty has been delays in investment and consequent increased energy prices. Or the Australian Energy Council who said that a lack of robust or bipartisan energy policy means there is a lack of investment confidence which means there is more risk to be managed and this in turn leads to higher prices.
So, Mr Deputy Speaker, we’ve got the Government’s own regulator and the peak body for all the power companies in the country, not just renewables, saying their actions, there decision to surrender any attempt to provide certainty on energy policy, means higher power prices, and the market has responded Mr speaker, the market has responded most emphatically. In the last month and a half wholesale electricity spot prices in Victoria have risen 81%. Let me repeat that. In the last six weeks since this Government has changed it’s policy four times, spot prices have risen 81%. That is flowing through to retail prices very shortly Mr Deputy Speaker, because spot prices lead into higher power prices for consumers. So Mr Deputy Speaker, we are already seeing the impact of this uncertainty and it’s there plain to see if you read the Government’s own modelling, because the Government’s own modelling says that if you don’t go through with the NEG, if you have no policy, you will see a $300 increase in power prices. That is what is going on right now. That is what the now Prime Minister said as Treasurer only 4 or 5 weeks ago, so what we have now is a Government driven by divisions. A Government that has an Energy Minister that is a climate change sceptic, who hates renewable energy, doesn’t want to provide certainty to the industry. We have a second speaker who denies the science of climate change. No wonder they have given up, but the great tragedy of this is, it’s not them that suffer. It’s not them that pay the price. It is households in this country. Every single household in this country will pay higher power prices, will face higher emissions because this Government has given up. They have given up because they are so hopelessly divided. History will condemn them. The Australian population right now is condemning them, but history will condemn them for a Government that has given up governing and is just interested in fighting themselves.