Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

To the member's question: first, the question asserts something which is false. It is misleading to attribute, as the member has, the entire electricity price rise experienced by football clubs, or indeed any other entity, to the carbon price.

Indeed, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency's office spoke to the West Adelaide Football Club this morning, who confirmed that around half of the price rise quoted in the Advertiser was due to network costs—that is, it is due to the kinds of costs I have been raising publicly and that initially the Leader of the Opposition denied existed. It is due to those kinds of costs.

As the member who asked the question may know from my statements and the government's statements, we are concerned about the impact of those network costs. The Leader of the Opposition denied their existence and then backflipped on this yesterday and said that there are substantial price rises due to things like this. We are determined to make a difference to these problems in our electricity system. That is why I am determined to drive a process of change at the Council of Australian Governments meeting.

Firstly, the question is misleading. Secondly—

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