Mr Speaker,

It’s rich for those opposite to accuse this two-month-old Government of abandoning its promise to cut power bills.

It’s rich, considering the catastrophic shambles they left in their wake after nine long years of failure.

They failed to buffer Australians against economic headwinds.

They failed to transition Australia towards a Net Zero future.

They failed to take advantage of our abundant natural resources and to make this country a global renewables superpower.

They failed to deliver a single kilowatt of new electricity generation.

And of course, they failed to be honest with the Australian people, with the former Energy Minister, the Member for Hume, deliberately hiding the looming 20 per cent power price hikes before the election.

What an absolute deceitful disgrace.

It would be laughable, Mr Speaker, if it wasn’t so alarming, that those opposite have now had a big brainwave and jumped back on the bandwagon of nuclear power.

Never mind that it’s the most expensive electricity source.

Never mind that it’s the slowest option, and can’t be deployed before 2030.

This is the genius solution they’re offering to tackle the climate crisis, after almost a decade of inaction.

Well, Mr Speaker, it’s just as well this Government has a plan.

We’ve looked at the science, and we know that renewables are the cheapest new-build electricity generation option in this country.

The Territory is one of the hottest parts of Australia; Darwin is the hottest city.

And we who live there know how brutal the heat and humidity can be in the build-up.

Climate change is critical everywhere, but any increase in temperature is even more acutely felt by my constituents.

I’m committed to doing my part to keep Darwin the best place to live.

But we have to acknowledge that climate change will impact our way of life.

So this Government is going to get on with the job and move Australia forward.

We’ve committed to a 43% reduction by 2030.

We’ve committed to be carbon neutral by 2050.

We can’t have our climate policy driven by ideology like it has been for the last decade.

It needs to be driven by our aim to deliver cheaper electricity to households and to businesses.

This is a once in a generation opportunity for to create jobs and deliver a better future for all Australians.

And the Territory is uniquely placed to benefit.

One example is the Sun Cable project.

It’ll create the world’s first intercontinental power grid – from central Australia, up through Darwin, then going by the world’s longest underwater power cables through Indonesia, finally reaching Singapore.

This project will create 1,500 jobs, with another 12,000 indirect jobs for the Territory.

It’ll generate $8 billion of investment in the Territory alone.

It’ll generate $2 billion per year in annual export revenues.

It’ll generate up to 15% of Singapore’s electricity, and it’ll give people there and across the Territory clean, reliable electricity.

This single project is going to cut the Northern Territory’s CO2 emissions by up to 10%.

We’ve got a Territory Labor Government backing this in, and now we have a Federal Labor Government backing this in.

Because only Labor is serious about climate change.

And only Labor sees it as an opportunity – for jobs, consumers, businesses, and our children.

This is one of the most ambitious renewable energy projects in the world, and as a Territorian I could think of no better place in the world for it.