Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Prohibiting Energy Market Misconduct) Bill 2019. I might begin where the member for Rankin left off, and that is that the energy policy on this side of the House is very settled, because the energy policy on this side of the House is to make sure that we are on the side of everyday Australians, sorting out and making sure that we help everyday Australians to lower the costs of living. It's the exact opposite of what Labor has been trying to do for many, many months now, and even before the election, when they voted repeatedly against this legislation.

We have seen time and time again that the Labor members' policy is very unsettled. In fact, we have here the member for Hunter, who has gotten as close to anyone on the Labor side to settling national energy policy, because he said the Labor Party should join with the coalition. He said we should be adopting the targets that the Morrison government put to the people of Australia in May, which the people of Australia thoroughly endorsed at the May election. The member for Hunter has come around, but the member for Rankin most certainly hasn't yet. The reason that he hasn't come around is that while he's trying to misrepresent our position when it comes to energy and power prices, he has never seen a tax that he doesn't like. The member for Rankin looks for any opportunity to reach into the pockets of Australians. We saw that with the carbon tax. We saw that with the debate that they are still having about implementing a carbon tax. Indeed, we know that is the greatest threat to increasing power prices for Australians, because nothing will drive power prices up more than the Labor Party continuing to adopt this position on implementing a carbon tax—a position that the member for Rankin no doubt supports, as I've said, given that he has never met a tax that he hasn't wanted to implement and force on the Australian people.

In contrast, it is this government that has already implemented a number of measures that have helped reduce power prices or keep power prices down, as low as possible, for the Australian people. We've already seen hundreds of thousands of individuals and small businesses across Australia benefit from the changes that we have made. They're receiving a better deal because of the pressure that we put on big energy companies to put customers first, by moving them off high-priced standing offers. We continue to build on these actions to drive down power prices with the introduction of the price safety net, by banning confusing discounting practices and sneaky late payment fees, and by introducing the retailer reliability obligation to deliver reliable, 24/7 affordable power.

While the member for Rankin comes in here and tries to characterise Labor now supporting the bill as being because we have made changes to this bill, the real situation is that the member for Rankin and other Labor members have finally come around to the government's way of thinking, and that is to be on the side of everyday Australians. At the crux of it, the amendments that the member for Rankin is talking about are simply to demonstrate the intent that we've always had for this bill, and that is that it is not an open door to privatisation—divestment is always the last resort—but that it is to put pressure on the big energy companies to sort out current practices, which the ACCC has described as being 'unsustainable and unacceptable'.

In the ACCC's report on their inquiry into the national energy market, which was requested and established by this government back in March 2017, they called the current energy market and how it's performing for consumers 'unsustainable and unacceptable'. What part of that report could Labor members have found acceptable and a good enough excuse to vote against this legislation the number of times that they did before the election? It is quite clear from reading the ACCC's account of the current energy market that something significant had to be done, and that is why the Morrison government put forward this legislation. The ACCC found that retailers played a major role in the poor outcome for consumers.

Now, if a market is not acting in the way that it should for consumers, we on this side of the House make a commitment to introduce competition, and that's what we're doing with this bill. Unlike Labor, when we make a commitment to the Australian people, we keep it, which is why we have pursued the bill over the opposition from Labor members to its conclusion now. We gave a commitment to Australians that we would take action when it came to the energy sector and that we understood community expectations are not being met. This bill represents strong action to respond to wrongdoings and put in place measures that will both maintain supply and work to keep energy prices low. The measures will strengthen competition and put downward pressure on prices.

As I said, the bill is addressing a key issue that comes from the ACCC inquiry—that, in the wholesale market, a lack of competition is resulting in higher prices, and, in the contract market, a lack of liquidity can present a barrier to entry. The measures in this bill that the Treasurer has outlined will rectify these practices and allow Australians to have access to affordable, reliable energy. We have already made headway in this space, as I have previously mentioned.

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