QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator AYRES (New South Wales—Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science) (14:32): This investment is vital for our national resilience—6,000 jobs delivered in that region, secured through renewable energy, through wind and solar investments backed by gas, backed by storage. Senator Colbeck interjecting— Senator AYRES: 'Alternative views', I hear Senator Colbeck say.

And I saw what Mr Hastie said the other day. He blamed renewable energy for Tomago's problems. It's like blaming doctors for disease.

It's like blaming ambulance drivers for car accidents. The thing that is securing the future of Tomago Aluminium, the thousands and thousands of jobs and that industrial capability—our end-to-end aluminium capability—is this government's efforts to rebuild what was left to us in a moribund, clapped-out electricity system. The PRESIDENT: Senator O'Neill, second supplementary?