Press conference, Sydney

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, today's statement of opportunities from our market operator AEMO tells us two things. Firstly, the government's plan is working when it comes to energy reliability. And secondly, there's a huge risk to that plan and a huge risk to reliability if Mr Dutton gets his way.

Firstly, this statement shows us that there have been 5.7 gigawatts of new energy that have developed since the last statement of opportunities. That's equivalent to roughly three old coal fired power stations and of that, 3.9 gigawatts of dispatchable capacity and a huge increase in renewable energy. This shows us that renewable energy is coming online at the pace that is necessary to replace the old forms of energy as we undertake this transition.

It also shows us that there's a risk to this transition. And that risk is the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party and the National Party say they want to pause renewable energy investment. The Liberal Party and the National Party say they want to rip up Rewiring the Nation, which as the document shows, transmission is important for reliability. The Liberal and National Parties say they don't want to proceed with offshore wind. The Liberals and National Party’s say they want to stop investment while we wait for their nuclear fantasy to come on board. That is a recipe for increased unreliability. That is a recipe for increased pressure in the system and for Australians to have a less reliable energy system.

We know that we need to stay the course and governments are staying the course. And in coming weeks, they'll be announcing the results of the Capacity Investment Scheme to support more renewable energy, more dispatchable energy into our grid as we need to do, to increase even more the level of investment and the rollout of renewable energy to ensure a reliable system. Coal fired power stations are getting older. And here's the tip. As they get older, they don't become more reliable. Mr Dutton and Mr Littleproud have an explicit policy, they say, of sweating the assets for longer, keeping coal fired power stations open for longer. Keeping our most unreliable form of power in the system for longer. That is the recipe for unreliability. Mr Dutton, Mr Littleproud and Mr O'Brien have a plan to make Australia's energy system less reliable and more risky. That is their risky reactor plan. It is a distraction, but it is one if they ever had the chance to implement would see energy investment fall, while we were waiting for their nuclear fantasy to come online.

All they've released is seven sites and they can't even stand by those seven sites with Mr Dutton saying earlier this week that he'd walk away from those sites if there was too much earthquake activity, they clearly hadn't done their homework in advance. They haven't released any costings, any modelling, any details, and they can't even stand by the seven sites they've announced.

Happy to take some questions. I believe we have journalists on the phone. Okay, no journalist on the phone. All right, no questions. All in, all done? Great. Thanks very much.