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

For all those people listening at home that are struggling with their power bills, particularly in South Australia—the pensioners, the workers at the steelworks at Whyalla, those at the Port Pirie smelter, those at Adelaide Brighton in the member's own electorate of Port Adelaide—what do you think they're thinking about the political games of those opposite? What do you think they're thinking? Do you think the fact that those opposite are belittling a saving of $115 a year reflects badly on them, particularly because when they were last in office power bills went up by 100 per cent? We had the dirty dozen of policies. We had hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in the small business sector, we had the dreaded $15 billion carbon tax, we had that great democratic experiment the citizens assembly, we had the cash for clunkers, we had the pink batts, we had the ETS, we had the CPRS, we had the EIS. We had every policy under the sun!

Now the Labor Party has been presented with what they have asked for: an opportunity for bipartisanship based on expert advice. As I said to the House, this has received widespread support from groups like ACCI, which says, 'This policy ticks the boxes of lower prices, increased reliability and meeting our international target.' The Australian Industry Group, representing more than a million employees, said, 'The plan gives the electricity sector a great deal of flexibility and it gives welcome recognition of the imperative of maintaining trade competitiveness for emissions-intensive industries.' The National Irrigators Council, in all the regional areas across the country, has said, 'This package is welcome.' Manufacturing Australia said they've welcomed the government's new energy plan. APPEA, who represent the gas companies, said, 'This National Energy Guarantee strengthens reliability.' What about Energy Consumers Australia? I thought those opposite worried about consumers. It said, 'This policy is welcome because it integrates the need for reliable power and emissions reduction in the electricity sector, at least cost for consumers.' PwC said, 'It provides a long-awaited certainty, reliability and affordability medicine we have been looking for to treat the ills of our energy market.' This is why this policy, put forward by the experts, is deserving of bipartisan support. If you don't support it, we will, because we believe in lower power prices and a more reliable system.

See this speech in context