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

They don't care on that side of the House, as the member next to me attests to. They just don't care—because they are standing with the big end of town and the big power companies, who have been price-gouging consumers for far too long. Everyone out there knows what's been happening. Everyone out there in the real Australia knows that this has been going on—because they've been copping the bills. This whole power argument which the coalition are seeking to prosecute is just a continuation of the Canberra bubble and a continuation of this introspective, political-class debate that is going on on the opposition benches. What is wrong with the principle that, if power companies get a discount on their wholesale price for electricity, that should be passed on to consumers? What is so terribly wrong about that? What is so hard to grasp about a concept like that? We stand with the consumers. If the power companies are getting discounts and price reductions on the wholesale price of electricity, that should be passed on to consumers. It's a very simple thing.

Government members interjecting—

That's exactly right, as my colleagues here point out: that's what this legislation does. We are standing up for those most vulnerable people in our communities, unlike those opposite, who are not only seeking to impose higher power prices on people in our communities like pensioners but also have that great new retiree tax which they're seeking to slug retirees with! It's a double whammy. In the electorate of Calare, there are 6,500 retirees who are affected by Labor's retiree tax. You've got to explain yourselves, through your candidates, to these electorates as to why you are doing that to the most vulnerable people in our society, in our communities around Australia. You're hitting them with a retiree tax and you are hitting them with higher power prices. It is not sustainable.

That's why the government has brought in this legislation. If you're not going to play by the rules, if you're going to engage in anticompetitive conduct, then why shouldn't you run the risk of being broken up if you're a price-gouging power company? We are standing with consumers on this, and we will do it proudly and we will do it right through to the next election. We will fight for consumers. (Time expired)

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