STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr HAMILTON (Groom) (13:33): For years, Australians have been told the same thing: renewable energy was the cheapest form of power. We were told that net zero would deliver lower electricity prices. And we were told that, if we just followed this net zero obsession, households and businesses would be better off.

But now, we have a remarkable admission—a remarkable admission from the CSIRO's own GenCost draft report. On page 55, it reads: 'decreasing emissions increases 2050 electricity costs'. Think about that.

The government's chief scientific advisers are acknowledging what we all know: lower emissions come only with higher electricity costs. These aren't the words of the coalition or the coal industry. It's not an opinion piece.

This is the CSIRO's own modelling. It's coming back on the Labor government, which has referred to this report over and over again. For years, we've been told that lower emissions and lower electricity prices were one and the same.

But now we see, from the CSIRO, that there is a trade-off. Australians understand this. We understand that policy choices come with a cost.

The issue isn't that there is a cost; the issue is that we've been told there wasn't a cost, and now the CSIRO is showing us the huge gap between Labor's ideology and reality—the gap between the slogans and the evidence, and the growing gap between what Australians have been promised and what they are paying each month in their power bills. You are not wrong if you think electricity prices are going up.

It's because of this net zero obsession.