Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Gilmore for her question and note her deep concern about rising power prices and the impact they are having on families across her electorate. This is why today's announcement about a National Energy Guarantee is a major breakthrough. It will provide reliable, affordable power as we transition to a lower emissions future. It is credible, it is workable, it is pro-market and it will lower electricity prices. Importantly, it means no more subsidies, no taxes and no trading schemes. It will deliver, on the basis of the advice of the Energy Security Board, a board of experts, savings of up to $115 per annum. It builds on the work that the coalition is already undertaking to reduce the power prices that are a result of increased network costs—and yesterday's decision by the Senate to pass our legislation to abolish limited merits review was important there; the work we've been doing with the retailers to save millions of Australian families hundreds of dollars a year; and the work we have done with the gas suppliers to ensure that Australians get access to gas first, before it is shipped overseas—and we have seen a significant fall in the spot price.

But the Labor Party believe in more subsidies—$66 billion worth of additional subsidies. They did nothing when they were in government to cut the network costs, they did nothing when they were in government to cut the retailer costs and they did nothing when they were in government to heed the warnings about increasing gas exports. No wonder the power bills increased by more than 100 per cent when Labor were in office.

We know that when it comes to the Leader of the Opposition you don't listen to what he says but watch what he does. He said he was in favour of a better deal for education, but he voted against our Gonski reforms. He said he was in favour of lowering company taxes, but he voted against our reforms. He said he was in favour of better childcare benefits, but he tried to stop our reforms. Now he says he is in favour of greater investment certainty in the energy sector. This is a test of his ticker. This is a test of the Leader of the Opposition's ticker. Will he stand up for Australian families? Will he follow the advice of the experts? Will he adopt a bipartisan approach to ensure that power bills for millions of Australian families are lower, and that we get the investment certainty in the energy sector that this country desperately needs? (Time expired)

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