Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Parkes wants to repeat the misrepresentations that he has been running around his electorate—misrepresentations, false claims, that he has been tricking and deceiving the people in his electorate with month after month after month. He should join in the apology that the Leader of the Opposition needs to make to the Australian people, a very serious apology. It is an apology that is needed because deceiving farmers, deceiving older people and deceiving needy and vulnerable people in our community warrants an apology—the claims have been shown to be false.

These claims have gone on and on. We had 12 months ago, and he has repeated this several times, the Leader of the Opposition saying that the carbon price would send grocery prices up five per cent. That is linked to this other claim that we get that it is going to go up and up and up. Get this: last month a report by TD Securities, Melbourne Institute, found that food prices were unaffected—not much to not understand about that—by the carbon price.

We have members opposite bleating about electricity prices now. The Leader of the Opposition and those opposite wanted to say that the carbon price would lead to massive increases in power prices. We have heard that language, and that is because the opposition, particularly the member for Parkes, who has been misleading the farmers in his electorate about this—

Mr Coulton interjecting—

I will come; I am very happy to go to Parkes. I have been everywhere in the country explaining the misrepresentations made by those opposite. The opposition hope to blame all electricity price rises on the carbon price, knowing that that is not true. It is true that the average electricity bill went up by approximately 50 per cent in the last four years. There has been a massive increase in electricity costs in our country, but it has been caused by other things. It has not been caused by the carbon price and it could not have been caused by the carbon price because the carbon price only came in on 1 July. As the Prime Minister has said, the most important driver of rising electricity prices is investment in network infrastructure, not the carbon price.

I will repeat a few more facts. Without taking into account the modest impact of carbon pricing, electricity prices in New South Wales have increased by almost 70 per cent since 2008, while they have increased by over 60 per cent in South Australia and Western Australia. In New South Wales the O'Farrell government is taking 60 per cent larger dividends than did the previous state government. I am not for a moment suggesting that there were not dividends taken by the previous Labor state government in New South Wales, but the present O'Farrell government, the Liberal government in New South Wales, is taking 60 per cent larger dividends. This government is also taking $587 million in tax equivalent payments from the same businesses, bringing the total money grab of Premier O'Farrell to around $570 for every household in New South Wales.

The Leader of the Opposition does put great faith in the unique brand of economics practised by the shadow Treasurer, 'Hockeynomics'—perhaps even more aptly described as 'sloppynomics'—but even he would understand that $570 is larger than zero dollars and represents a massive gouge on the people of New South Wales. (Time expired)

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