QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS
Senator STEWART (Victoria) (15:18): It is really quite laughable that those opposite will come in here and ask questions that have this undertone that they support Australian workers. They are doing that in trying to make a political point. They think they are onto a political winner here, talking about energy prices and how Australian workers are going to be out of jobs.
But I am going to take a little bit of a walk down memory lane. Let's revisit some of the ways they have supported you, Australian workers. Firstly, they didn't back a pay rise for three million of Australia's lowest-paid workers.
They didn't back it, but they are in here talking about backing Australian workers. They also wanted to reverse your right to disconnect from your work. They wanted to let your boss unreasonably call you at any time of the day and for you to have no ability to stop that from happening.
That's how they back you. They took a policy to the election that would see workers pay for their bosses' lunches. They took that policy to the election.
That is how they are backing you, Australian workers. For almost a decade while they were in government, they also had a policy that deliberately kept wages low for Australian workers. They opposed tax cuts for millions of Australian workers that would see you keep more of what you earn every week.
That's how they backed you: opposing tax cuts that would let you keep more of what you earn. They also took a higher taxes policy to the election. That is how they backed to you, the Australian worker.
But they will come in here and ask questions that will see them pretend to back Australian workers. There is only one party of government that is on the side of Australian workers, and that is the Australian Labor Party. Every single day, we are on the side of Australian workers.
In the energy and heavy industry space, there are a few ways that we do that every single day on this side of the chamber. We back Australian workers every day by being consistent, by having purpose and by having ambition when it comes to what we are trying to achieve for Australia and internationally. We have the best renewable resources in the world and nearly every one of the critical minerals that will power the 21st century.
Seizing these opportunities is how we make sure Australia remains an export powerhouse, with good, blue-collar jobs in our regions. That's what Future Made in Australia will do, what the Capacity Investment Scheme will do, what the CEFC will do, and what our gas market review will do. It is about making sure we have cheap power and, in turn, a vibrant, world-class heavy industry sector that delivers good jobs for Australians.
We're supporting industry as it moves to renewable power, like with the Powering the Regions Fund and the green aluminium production credit. We back Australian workers every day on this side of the chamber. We've taken strong action on energy prices over here on this side of the chamber.
On that side, you know what they did for you? They opposed $450 off your energy bill. That's what they did.
And then they come in here and complain about higher energy prices. We provided three rounds of energy bill relief to homes and to small businesses to take the sting out of bills now, while doing overdue reform work to bring bills down for good. Things that are going to make a difference now and things that are going to make a difference in the future—that's what government should do.
We acted to cap coal and gas prices, shielding Australians from the worst of the global energy crisis. And I make a shameless plug in my last 20 seconds to say that 80 per cent of households could be paying less on their energy bills. Go to the government's energy.gov.au website and check their prices, because you can find a cheaper plan for you and your household.
That's energy.gov.au.