Andrew Gee (Calare, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

This MPI debate has made it very clear where we all stand in this House on this issue. On this side of the House, we stand for consumers—

Mr Buchholz interjecting—

Yes, we do. We stand for the consumers. On that side of the House, they stand with the big power companies on this issue. Everyone on this side of the House has been contacted by families who are doing it tough, struggling to make ends meet because of these skyrocketing power prices. They've had enough of it. We all know the stories of the pensioners who have contacted our offices and said: 'We are struggling to keep the heaters on in the wintertime, because we just can't cope with these sky-high power prices.' Something has to be done. The families, the pensioners and the businesspeople have been crying out for bold and decisive action—and this is what has been delivered with this new policy. All around us on this side of the chamber we've heard stories of the small businesses who have contacted our offices—for example, Appledale fruit processers in Orange. They are a community-run co-op, run by the processors, and their power bill has been going up by tens of thousands of dollars every year. They just can't keep going with these sky-high power prices.

Those on that side of the House think that small businesses, medium-sized businesses and even the bigger businesses are just going to keep on going forever and a day, producing the prosperity, wealth and opportunity that this country was built on. But it's not like that. We can't take them for granted. We can't just keep hammering them and hammering them with ever-increasing taxes and ever-increasing prices, which those on that side of the House advocate for through their opposition to this policy. If we want regional economies to grow, and if we want regional communities to prosper, then we need to be doing something about these power prices—because sky-high power prices are a regional jobs killer. I've been to enterprises in our part of the world where they've told me that they won't be able to continue. There's a commercial laundry in Blayney that I visited. They employ 25 people in a small country town. They rang the alarm bells early and said something needs to be done about these skyrocketing power prices and gas prices. If that business closes, 25 people in a small country town lose their jobs. It's not easy—

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