Mr BUTLER (Port Adelaide) (15:13): It was four years ago last week that the Liberal Party made a memorable promise to the Australian people. On a whim, it would appear, the Leader of the Liberal Party then said that there would be 'no cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions' and 'no cuts to the ABC or SBS' under a Liberal government that might be elected in 2013, and, within only a few months, each and every one of those promises was smashed in the 2014 budget. But Australians also remember another solemn promise made by the Liberal Party in the lead-in to that election in 2013, and that was that Australian households would be $550 better off in their energy prices if a Liberal government were elected in 2013. And this, perhaps unlike the other promise, was not a whim at the end of an election campaign. This was a promise that the member for Warringah repeated day in, day out, as he angrily marched up and down the country railing against climate and energy policy. Well now, into the fifth year of this government, Australians also know that that was a lie as well. Far from being $550 better off under this government, the average Sydney household is almost $1,000 worse off just in its electricity bills since 2013—$1,000 worse off. That is a $1,500 gap every year. Indeed, it's likely to be a gap that grows next year. The Prime Minister, in question time just now, sought to deny the AER data. When I tried to table the data to show the government what we were relying on in those figures, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the House denied me the ability to do that. So what I will do is read into the transcript the AER data that The Australian newspaper published on their front page on 10 July 2017. It said: The regulator data shows the average Sydney household has been hit with annual electricity bill rises of 11.6, 11.7, 10.6, 10 and 10.8 per cent since June 2013 … Cumulatively, that is a 75 per cent increase in power bills since 2013, when this government was elected. An average household power bill is $935 up, not $550 down, from 2013. Businesses also haven't been spared from this. Businesses have been talking to members on both sides of the House, I'm sure, about the power contract negotiations they're now subject to that are seeing power prices go up by as much as 100 per cent for businesses across Australia under this government. This government's stunning failure has also seen closures of seven old coal-fired power stations across the system. That amounts to a loss of 4,000 megawatts of power, which is equivalent to six million households, or every household in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne combined. Old coal-fired power stations close. We on this side of the House recognise that reality. The problem, though, is that there is no additional supply being built. The Prime Minister talked about 2½ thousand megawatts of gas-fired generation being added to the system in the last decade. That was all under us. Not a single new gas-fired generator has been added under this government. In a shocking indictment of this government's failure on energy policy, the AEMO reports last week warned that— Mr Frydenberg interjecting— Mr BUTLER: That was opened well before you were there. The AEMO reports last week warn that two-thirds of our nation are now at risk of blackout— Mr Frydenberg interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Coulton ): Order! The Minister for the Environment and Energy will remain silent. Mr BUTLER: Two-thirds of our nation is at risk of blackout in coming summers because while these stations have closed under this government's watch, nothing has been built to replace that generation, and we are short. It is not just skyrocketing power prices and the risk of blackouts that have emerged under this government; every other indicator of energy policy has been a stunning failure on this government's watch. Pollution is up and gas prices are up—and this Prime Minister won't pull the trigger, as my colleague the member for Blaxland has been saying time and time again over the course of this week. In the renewable energy industry, a massive jobs driver around the world, one in three jobs, according to the ABS, has been lost since this government came to power, while jobs in that industry around the world have skyrocketed by 45 per cent. As Australians open up their power bills with skyrocketing prices, and as they contemplate the risk of blackouts across two-thirds of the nation in coming summers, they understand who is to blame for this mess: this Prime Minister; his predecessor, the member for Warringah; and the minister for energy. We know why. It is because, as in so many other areas of policy, this government had a plan to dismantle and destroy policy but put nothing in its place. For more than four years this country has been without an energy policy. If only we had a plan. If only there was a blueprint somewhere to get us out of the deep energy crisis this government has plunged the nation into. Of course, we do have a plan—it's a report that this government commissioned from the Chief Scientist of Australia, Alan Finkel. It's a blueprint that, if implemented, will deliver more renewable energy, more gas-fired power, more batteries and storage, more reliability into the system and, most importantly of all, lower prices for Australian households and businesses. It's a blueprint that has been endorsed by the states and territories and endorsed by industry. This morning, we read an article in Fairfax—'Turnbull retreats on clean energy'—that it's not going to be backed by this government. A report commissioned by this government, from its own Chief Scientist, is not going to be backed by this weak Prime Minister. I think it was pointed out in question time that one MP from that side of the House said to Fairfax: … if we were going to do Finkel's [clean energy target], it would be done already. And you have to wonder why? There's a deep crisis. There's a clear blueprint that the government itself commissioned. There's strong consensus behind it. There's an opposition willing to engage with it. Well, we know the answer; it has a familiar ring to it. We saw it in The Australian newspaper in an article headed, 'Tony Abbott fuels push from backbench against clean energy target'. In it, the member for Warringah very helpfully outlines his alternative energy policy, which is the heart of the problem here—that is, the coalition's focus is not on reliable power, the coalition's focus is not on affordable power, the coalition is obsessed with this fantasy that Australia's energy future lies in building new coal-fired power stations. That is the plan that the member for Warringah is forcing on this government. We know it is a fantasy. We know from the lending industry, from the banks and from equity investors that there is not going to be a new coal-fired power station built in this country. Everyone knows that the AEMO report that was released last week on dispatchable power was commissioned by the coalition in the hope that it would recommend new coal-fired power stations as a solution to their energy crisis, but, of course, it didn't do that. It is time for this Prime Minister to stop indulging the fantasy that the member for Warringah drives: that the future of Australia's energy is in new coal-fired power stations. The future of Australia's energy sector was outlined by the Chief Scientist in a blueprint commissioned by this government. It's more renewable energy. It's more gas-fired generation. It's more batteries and other storage systems. It's more reliability in the system and the lower prices for consumers, businesses, and households that that will deliver. This Prime Minister is weak in refusing to argue against and resist the push by the member for Warringah to take us back to the 20th century. His decision to play politics, the personal abuse, the name-calling, the misleading statements about clear data from their own regulators about what has happened to power prices under this government's watch—it means one thing: Australians will continue to suffer higher prices and they'll continue to suffer the risk of blackouts across summers in New South Wales, in Victoria and in South Australia, across the system, representing two-thirds of the nation's population. If this government doesn't stand up to the member for Warringah and endorse the blueprint delivered by the Chief Scientist, Australian households and businesses will hold this government to account.