MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Ms WITTY (Melbourne) (15:58): For years, everyday Australians watched the other political parties in this place turn energy into a political battleground rather than a responsibility. One side spent a decade denying reality. The other confused protests with progress, slogans with solutions.
They created outrage but instead of doing something about it turned that outrage into data harvesting personal information for their own political gain. In the middle are everyday families and businesses who just want affordable energy, reliable power and confidence that climate change is being taken seriously. Australia's energy system was always going to change.
Our coal-fired power stations are getting older. The question has never been whether the transition would happen. The question has been whether Australia would be prepared for it.
For 10 years those opposite had the opportunity to prepare. What did they deliver? It was a promise of wholesale prices below $70 per megawatt hour but with a reality of prices above $280.
It was 10 years in government, 10 years of climate wars and 10 years where more energy left the grid than was added. And now they stand in this parliament pretending they have discovered concern for household and industry. The people I represent in Melbourne are not interested in revisiting the last 15 years.
They want to know what happens next. How does Australia get competitive? How do manufacturers get the energy they need?
How do households get relief from rising costs? How do we tackle climate change while creating good jobs? That is why, from day one, the Albanese government has focused on building—building renewable generation, building battery storage, building the industries of the future and building a modern energy system that can actually support Australia's future.
Since we first came to government, more than 22 gigawatts of renewable generation has been added to Australia's grid. Wind and solar capacity has increased by 60 per cent. That is enough new capacity to exceed five Snowy Hydro schemes.
That's not proposed, not announced and not protested; it's built. Unlike those opposite, Labor understands that aspirations don't power homes; infrastructure does. Announcements don't keep industries open; investment does.
Slogans don't lower bills; building things does. And delivering for the Australian people is exactly what this government is doing. For households, we are helping Australians participate in the energy transition rather than simply paying pay for it.
It's battery discounts, community batteries, solar sharing, social housing upgrades and consumer protections that stop energy retailers taking Australians for a ride. It's practical reforms that make a difference in people's lives. For industry, we are providing what businesses consistently tell government they need most.
That is certainty—not another decade of arguments, not another decade of delays and not more protests, but certainty—through Rewiring the Nation, through the Capacity Investment Scheme, through Future Made in Australia and through investments that support manufacturing, clean industry and long-term economic growth. That matters enormously for the people I represent in Melbourne, because in Australia we should not just consume the technologies of the future; we should build them.
We should manufacture them. We should design them. Our city is home to world-class research institutions, advanced manufacturing, clean technology businesses and highly skilled workers.
The economic opportunities that come with the clean energy transformation are not theoretical; they are real. The only question is whether Australia captures them or watches other countries do it first. That is what is at stake in this debate.
It's not just power bills; it's economic leadership, industrial capacity and future jobs. That is why Labor's approach is different. We reject the false choice that has dominated this debate for too long.
We reject the idea that Australia must choose between climate action and economic growth. We reject the idea that delay is a strategy. And we reject the idea that saying 'no' is a substitute for governing.
The Australian people deserve more than political theatre. They deserve more than culture wars. They deserve more than endless protests.
They deserve real outcomes. When it comes to delivering those outcomes, there is only one party with a record and a plan, and that party is the Australian Labor Party.