Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

Two in a row! I thank the member for Dawson for his question. He understands, unlike the member for Fenner, the pressures and the daily demands of high energy prices for consumers and small business. The member ran his own small business. He grew up on a family sugarcane farm, so, like all of us on this side of the House, he wants to take action to help consumers and small business cope.

We recently met Debbie and Mark Ahern in Mackay at Debbie's Seafood & Deb's Fish Cafe, one of the more than 17,000 small businesses in Dawson. Starting with a single truck and one employee in 1997, Debbie's Seafood has grown to 29 people today—a great mum-and-dad operation. Debbie and Mark's success is thanks to hard work and determination. It's thanks to investment and support by the Liberals and Nationals through the $20,000 instant asset write-off and thanks to tax cuts for small business down to 27½ per cent—the lowest they've been since 1940. Like millions of Australians in small business, Debbie and Mark want to keep doing what they do best, and that is running their business and creating jobs. But uncertainty in the energy sector hurts their chances of doing that. They told me power prices should be more competitive. We need prices to head downwards. Debbie and Mark have coolrooms and cookers which need a lot of energy, and the cost affects their ability to hire more people and to grow. Debbie and Mark's feedback is like what I have heard from small businesses right across the country, including in Labor electorates. The Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Energy and the Treasurer met with energy company bosses just yesterday to help get a better deal for Australians. We know the impact high energy costs have on the hip pocket and we have a long-term plan and a short-term plan to help deliver energy security for Australians and to give small businesses and consumers the confidence they deserve, they want and they expect.

The ACCC has commenced an investigation into the National Electricity Market and retailer behaviour to ensure the market is operating competitively. Longer-term, Snowy Hydro 2.0—the Prime Minister's dream—will not only generate thousands of jobs. It will also provide power for half a million homes—the Prime Minister's reality.

I am asked about alternatives. I look with some despair at the sorry lot opposite—what a completely bleak alternative. Labor won't take action on energy like we have with energy bosses. It is all ideology over engineering and economics for Labor. Those opposite are hell-bent on an ideological target with no regard for household bills and no regard for reliability. Labor is the same party which had 13 different policies in eight years. Labor is the party of the carbon tax, the party of the citizens' assembly. Labor is not going into bat for lower energy prices—never did. Labor is not going into bat for small businesses and families—never will—and Labor is not going into bat for a fairer deal. With all due respect, they would not know how. (Time expired)

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