Mr FRYDENBERG (Kooyong—Minister for the Environment and Energy) (15:23): Well, we know that the Labor Party—the party of blackouts and the party of a doubling of electricity prices the last time they were in office—have now sought to repeat the mistakes of their brethren in the Labor states of Victoria and South Australia. They seek to take this energy horror show national. That is what the Labor Party want to do with their 45 per cent emissions reduction target, which will cost the Australian economy billions of dollars in lost productivity, lost economic growth, job destruction and investment lost. That will be the legacy of that policy. Combine that with the reckless 50 per cent renewable energy target, which they said to the Australian people that they would legislate but that they are now seeking to walk away from. Also combine that with their policies to adopt, right across the board, emissions reduction without understanding its true consequence and impact on jobs, investment and growth. On this side of the House we have been making positive inroads into the energy question. We have ensured that we are providing more domestic gas for users across the country. We've already seen announcements by Origin and Santos that more gas will be made available to the domestic market. We have also seen significant reforms that we've undertaken in the gas pipelines to ensure that there's more competition, more transparency and, ultimately, lower prices. And with transportation of gas being up to 15 per cent of the gas bill and the electricity bill, this can be quite a significant component of reducing power prices. We've taken action with the networks, the poles-and-wire companies that make up the 50 per cent of the household power bill. When Labor was in office, they saw a massive rise in the gold-plating of the networks but they did nothing. They stood still; they sat on their hands. It's the coalition who said we're going to abolish the limited merits review process and put through this House legislation which, now in the Senate, the Labor Party is seeking to push off to committee. Labor didn't do anything when they were in office to rein in the power of the network companies. Indeed, when they were in office we saw a regulator rate of return of around 10 per cent. That has fallen to just above six per cent today, which is worth hundreds of dollars to an Australian consumer. We on this side have been doing work with the retailers. The retail component of the bill is significant. We've seen high margins, particularly in states like Victoria. We've asked the ACCC to look into that market and to look at the operations of the particular retailers around the country. But the concessions that we're able to win from the retailers are going to be very significant in getting lower prices because, again, the Labor Party did absolutely nothing. The member for Bendigo has sold out the blue-collar workers in her electorate. The member for Bendigo has nothing to say about electricity prices. The member for Bendigo does nothing to improve the household power bills. If she did, she would speak out in favour of the Turnbull government's efforts to ensure that more information, better information, more transparent information is made available to households by their energy retailers. The fact that 50 per cent of Australian households have not changed retailers or contracts in the last five years despite benefits or gains or savings of more than $1,000 being available to them is quite significant. That is why we've taken action. As the Prime Minister has indicated, a key part of the energy story, as we transition from more synchronous generation to less synchronous generation, as we move from a system where lots of people are on the grid to more people being off the grid, is having storage in place for wind and for solar in particular. The Labor Party didn't put in place any preparations for the necessary storage. Whether it's the pumped hydro schemes that you see around the country or indeed around the world, which are so vital in providing storage for renewable power, or battery storage, we saw nothing from those opposite. It's only the coalition that has put storage at the top of the policy agenda. And we've started to see big investments underway—whether it's through the Kidston pumped hydro facility that is being looked at in Queensland, whether it's the one in Cultana in South Australia or whether it's Snowy Hydro 2.0. You have a premier in South Australia, Jay Weatherill, whose only energy policy is to spend $110 million on diesel generators, take more coal-fired power from Victoria and then also invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a gas-fired power generator. But then the big daddy of them all was to have a battery from a bit of Hollywood and a few doughnuts on sale. He thought a battery could solve— An honourable member interjecting— Mr FRYDENBERG: Yes, he had doughnuts at the launch. He thought that some doughnuts, some Hollywood, some Elon Musk and a big battery would be the answer for South Australia's energy woes! But that battery can keep South Australia going for as much as five minutes. That is what the storage answer from the Labor Party is whereas we are investing in Snowy Hydro 2.0, which can add up to 350,000 megawatt hours of storage. That compares to the 129 megawatt hours you get from Elon Musk's battery and some doughnuts and some Hollywood in South Australia. So the coalition has taken steps around networks, steps around retailers, steps around storage, steps around gas and we are going to see a much more stable energy system. We quickly accepted the 49 Finkel recommendations to ensure that large generators give a minimum of three years notice before they can close—not to mention the requirement that, from now on, wind and solar provide their own levels of storage, which previously wasn't the case. They're just some of the recommendations that we accepted from the Finkel review which will make a difference to the stability of the system. The Prime Minister was concerned that, with the predicted closure of Liddell in 2022, there would be a supply shortfall in the market. That's why we asked the Australian Energy Market Operator to give us a report into the level of dispatchable power we need in the system, and they indicated that, were Liddell to close in 2022, there would be a 1,000-megawatt shortage of supply. What did the member for Port Adelaide say? He said that this is not a problem. He even challenged the premise of the Australian Energy Market Operator's own findings. What did the Leader of the Opposition say? The Leader of the Opposition said: 'This is a distraction. This is the wrong priority. This is an issue for down the track.' An issue for down the track? This is an issue for today. That is why the coalition is taking steps, reaching out to AGL and asking them to consider keeping Liddell open for an additional five years or selling it to another party. That is what the AGL board will consider. But the reality is that the Labor Party turned their back on the Australian Energy Market Operator and have turned their back on the recognition that when they were in office they ignored the warnings from the Australian Energy Market Operator and from their own energy white paper about the need to ensure sufficient gas supplies in the domestic market and not to export all their gas overseas. So we're taking actions across a number of fronts, but the Labor Party is in denial, because that is the party that has seen, in Victoria and in South Australia, a heightened risk of blackouts. My colleagues the member for Chisholm and the member for Deakin would be interested to know that, according to this AEMO report, the state with the highest risk of blackout coming to the end of this year and the state that AEMO is most concerned about is Victoria, where there is a 43 per cent risk of load shedding or supply shortfalls. The member for McMillan would be interested to know that in his own state the Daniel Andrews Labor government has closed down Hazelwood, has restricted gas, has put in a renewable-energy-only target and is doing nothing to ensure the affordability and reliability of the system. The member for Port Adelaide should be ashamed to associate himself with that failed, big experiment in South Australia, from a tired old Labor government, nearly 16 years old. The Labor Party is the party of higher prices and a less stable power system.