Mr REPACHOLI (Hunter) (18:36):

 I rise in response to the motion moved by the member for O'Connor. I start by clearly stating my support for gas. We need it; there's no doubt about that. There's a lot in this motion I agree with and that the government agrees with. It is true that it is an important part of our economy and it employs a lot of people. There's a new gas-fired peaking station in Kurri, right next door to my electorate, and I'm sure a lot of people in my electorate have a job just because of this—and that's great.

The motion also points out:

(c) natural gas is essential to Australia achieving its net zero target by 2050.

This is all very true. That's why natural gas plays a very important role in our energy policy. We can't put more renewable energy into the grid without firming baseline supply of energy provided by gas.

The motion goes on to state other basic facts and figures, like:

(b) natural gas is connected to more than five million Australian homes and provided 42 per cent of the energy consumed by the Australian manufacturing sector in 2022—

and—

(c) the natural gas sector provided $17.1 billion in taxes, royalties and charges in 2023-24 …

At the end of the day the Labor Party backs gas, and our policies show this.

What I'm confused about is why someone who was a member of the previous government wants to have a discussion with us about energy policy certainty. The member for O'Connor, who I have a lot of respect for, must be having some trouble with his memory, because, if mine serves me correctly, there's one very important detail he's leaving out—well, actually, there are 23 important details he's leaving out in this discussion about energy policy certainty! When they were in government they had over 20 energy policies, and just a few weeks ago, from his nice building in the city, the Leader of the Opposition announced No. 23—a policy that will impact my electorate but that he announced 200 kilometres away from my electorate without speaking to any of the voters in the Hunter. Maybe I'm being a little too harsh; maybe I can't refer to this as energy policy No. 23 because, usually, a policy has some details with it. This one doesn't seem to have that.

Either way, that lot opposite have made more energy policies over the past decade than I have fingers and toes on both my hands and feet put together. But here they are today wanting to talk to us about energy policy. Forgive me for my confusion, but I don't think this is a topic they are even slightly qualified to discuss. The only thing you can be certain about with energy policies announced by those opposite is it won't be long until another one is announced.

Let's compare and contrast that with our track record on energy. Our country went from having a government that went through energy policies faster than I can go through a burger to this government, which has taken immediate and strong action to shore up gas supply and manage price impacts by introducing the mandatory Gas Market Code, strengthening the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism and releasing the Future Gas Strategy, and this has worked. The mandatory gas code has now secured more than 600 petajoules of domestic gas for east coast users out till 2033—and, by the way, that is something the coalition voted against. Maybe they were worried that our policies might actually work.

The coalition have no leg to stand on when it comes to gas. They have no credibility whatsoever. We know it, the public knows it, and industry knows it too. They called on you to vote for the PRRT reform, which you stood in the way of. They called on you to support legislation to implement the London protocol amendments, which you held up in the Senate for way longer than it needed to be. They called on you to support the Gas Market Code and you refused. Those opposite filled this motion with a lot of facts and figures, but let's get one thing straight: the track record of those opposite shows that, once again, it falls to the Labor government to clean up their mess and drive a responsible, orderly energy transition across the economy, with affordable renewables being the centrepiece, backed up by firmed hydro, batteries and gas-fired power stations.