Robert Oakeshott (Lyne, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Well, only $60 million above to begin with. The budget papers prove that they broke that promise by $60 million last year. That is nothing compared to what comes next year. The same budget papers at 5.18 reveal that state owned power network monopoly dividends will increase from $639 million last year to $901 million next year. That is an incredible 41 per cent increase in one single year. In fact, if the O'Farrell Liberal-National government had kept its promise to cap dividends last year—a promise that plenty of people, I acknowledge, voted for and welcomed—the increase in forecast dividends would have been an astounding 55 per cent. The O'Farrell government will skim from its power network monopolies $242 million more in cash next year than it did last year. That is roughly an extra $80 from each and every power consumer in New South Wales—higher for small businesses—and, unlike with the carbon price, there is little or no assistance or compensation or whatever you want to call it for most households and absolutely nothing for small business.

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