Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Minister for Energy) Share this | Hansard source

We have seen the results, where in South Australia we now have prices at around 50c per kilowatt hour. They are amongst the highest in the country. We have also seen that, despite the fact that with 50c a kilowatt hour, you would expect to have high service levels and reliability, you are not getting that. South Australia is a great state, but it is held back by one key factor, which is the high prices of energy, which is driven by an absolutely unacceptable target. Those opposite want to have a 45 per cent emissions reduction target and a 50 per cent Renewable Energy Target. They want to take Jay Weatherill's experiment and take it national. The result will be that we will all pay more for our electricity.

We are absolutely confident that in the absence of those subsidies we will get the investment we need in the network, and we're doing that through our plan, which has three parts. The first of those parts is that we're going to back investment in new generation. We're going to back investment in fair dinkum, reliable generation, because that's what this country needs. It doesn't need to be stuck with intermittent generation that drives up prices and drives down reliability.

On top of that, we will be setting a retail price safety net for all customers—it is those most in need who need this most, the sort of people who you would typically care for but you don't care for anymore. We are stopping the rip-offs from the big energy companies. We will drive prices down. That is our policy. Those opposite will drive them up.

Mr Conroy interjecting—

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