Mr BURNS (Macnamara) (15:27): We can all take a deep breath after Radioactive Man turned it right up, didn't he? He turned the reactor right up! I do admire those opposite because they're not burdened by self-doubt! They are not burdened by self-doubt—or history or a sense of policy or governance. None of those details bother them, and I think that must bring some sort of freedom when you come into this place and don't really have a sense of history; you're willing to say whatever you want. So why don't we go down a trip down memory lane? Why don't we go for a journey? It's a beautiful day outside. I'm sure there are many Australians enjoying this MPI on their screens. I'm sure they are all thinking, 'Goodness, thank God that last speaker's over.' But why don't we go down energy lane? The previous government had a number of different energy policies. The first one was the NEG. We remember the NEG, the National Energy Guarantee. It was not the worst idea from those opposite; in fact, the former minister for energy, the former member for Kooyong, Josh Frydenberg, brought the National Energy Guarantee to the parliament. He did a few press conferences with the then leader. In fact, the then Labor opposition—proudly now the Labor government—was even willing to negotiate and come to the table, saying: 'You know what? An idea that brings industry together to guarantee supply while also looking at ways in which we can increase renewable energy into the national energy grid—you know, for a bunch of people over there that we don't usually expect good ideas from, that wasn't a bad one.' There was one problem with the National Energy Guarantee. It wasn't the Labor Party; it was the Liberal Party's own party room that killed the National Energy Guarantee. In fact, the only thing the National Energy Guarantee guaranteed—it didn't guarantee any energy—was that Malcolm Turnbull was no longer was the Prime Minister. It took the National Energy Guarantee to topple a Liberal Prime Minister. There were a few other brilliant ideas that came out of it. Of course there was our friend, the member for Hume, who was busy last term as the minister for energy. He was not much on energy policy, to be frank. That wasn't his focus. To be fair, he was pretty busy downloading documents from the City of Sydney website. He was very busy with his $14 million worth of travel that, apparently Clover Moore—remember that? I think he did a press conference as well, saying that they used $14 million. Where did they go—to the moon? Where do you think they went? Honourable members interjecting— Mr BURNS: That must have been it. That's a lot of trips to Canberra from Sydney, isn't it—$14 million! But that didn't trouble him. He was determined to put up that story. Then there were his efforts in the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. The hint with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation is in its name—it's about clean energy. Honourable members interjecting— Mr BURNS: I know, it's shocking! Who would have thunk it? That was something that the member for Hume wanted to take out. He wanted the Clean Energy Finance Corporation not to invest in clean energy. The other thing I thought was amazing about the failed attempts of the member for Hume regarding the Clean Energy Finance Corporation was that the return on investment required for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation was all about good investments. It's one of the most successful government agencies to invest in programs to get a good return on investment. Except what the member for Hume wanted to do was take out the financially responsible aspects of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. He wanted to turn the Clean Energy Finance Corporation into a government agency that didn't invest in clean energy and didn't have any financial responsibility. It was just going to be 'the agency', because it had no other link. An honourable member: I feel a colour-coded spreadsheet coming on! Mr BURNS: A colour-coded spreadsheet, yes! There were a few seats over that they should have done more colour-coded spreadsheets for. Then there was the Collinsville coal-fired power station. The former member for Dawson was pretty keen on that, but— Honourable members interjecting— Mr BURNS: Yes, with Senator Canavan and a few others from his band of merry men. Canavan was getting some chalk and updating his Twitter bio—that's what Senator Canavan was up to! Anyway, it brings me to the member for Fairfax, who is our new friend leading those opposite and who led the MPI. I have a soft spot for the member for Fairfax—he's a good-natured character. We on this side of the House recognise the fact that there are energy price struggles that Australian people are facing. We absolutely recognise that. We recognise the fact that for too long this country has been crippled by having no energy policy. We need to get energy prices down and we need to ensure that gas prices are as low as possible. The work going on behind the scenes by the ministers and the Prime Minister is extremely important. But you would think that, while energy prices are so high, you wouldn't go for the highest and most expensive form of energy as the main policy to rectify those high-energy prices. Surely! I know that they aren't burdened by logic and they're not burdened by sense, but surely that makes no sense. The member for Fairfax has in his electorate the Coolum Beach Surf Club—unfortunately, today we're going to have to announce that if the member for Fairfax has his way the Coolum Beach Surf Club is going to be transformed into the 'Coolum Beach Nuclear Reactor'. That's what it's going to be. They won't be doing the surf club in Coolum; they're just going to be 'Coolum down' the nuclear reactor! That's all they're going to be able to do in Coolum. The member for Maranoa is the leader of this new push for nuclear energy. One of the great things in the member for Maranoa's electorate is the Stockmans Hall of Fame—it's a great part of regional Australia. But it's going to have to be shut down, unfortunately for the member for Maranoa because you're going to have the 'Stockmans Nuclear Power Plant' instead. It's not going to be the hall of fame; it's going to be the 'hall of uranium' in the in the member or Maranoa's electorate! There are so many others who are going to have to build nuclear reactors in their electorates— Mr Rae: Another colour-coded spreadsheet! Mr BURNS: Another colour-coded spreadsheet—you all get a nuclear reactor! In all seriousness, nuclear energy is too expensive. We've had a lot of looks at it. In fact, I was on the committee with the member for Fairfax when we had a good look at this. Along with the member for Fremantle we had a good look at what nuclear reactors would mean for Australia— An honourable member: For the 17th time. Mr BURNS: For the 17th time! It was a clear example that the economics don't stack up. Of course, we have a nuclear reactor in Lucas Heights, which does incredible work creating medicines. We have nothing against the technology, but the economics of this simply doesn't make sense. We're not going to be lectured by those people who want to make energy prices go even higher. We on this side of the House are going to work on a simple energy price policy: 82 per cent renewable energy by 2030. It's going to be the most important thing so that we can bring down long-term power prices. It's going to be the most important thing so that we can have sovereignty in Australia on our electricity grid. We're not going to have an electricity grid that's so responsive to international pressures. We'll have an electricity grid where we won't have people like the member for Hume coming into this place and destroying the energy grid. The member for Hume and the member for Fairfax like to come into this place and talk about energy prices. Just before question time today Mr Luke Yeaman, deputy secretary, in estimates gave an alarming piece of evidence when he said that the current increase in energy prices this financial year reflects increases in the default market offers published in May by the Australian Energy Regulator and associated market dynamics. In other words, electricity prices are so high because of the things that happened under their watch. Instead of Angus Taylor, the member for Hume, being free and open and honest with the Australian people, he tried to hide the regulations that keep the default market offer from the Australian people. We are not going to be lectured by the characters who tried to destroy the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, who brought in the NEG and who ended up destroying the Malcolm Turnbull prime ministership. We're not going to be lectured by the people who, with high energy prices, want to bring in nuclear reactors, the most expensive and slowest form of energy. What we on this side of the House are going to invest in is renewable energy because it is going to be the thing that brings down power prices, the thing that powers Australian homes and the thing that creates thousands of jobs, creates five out of six jobs in Australian regions. That is exactly what we are going to do.