Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker, and congratulations on your election. Today the MPI is about the cost of living. One of the most important parts of any family's cost of living is their power bill. We all know that, we wait for it quarterly and it makes a big impact on the family budget. I am going to read out some quotes that I think are very important to give context of what this new government said before the election and what they are now doing after. An ABC online article on 29 April 2022 said:

Mr Albanese maintains that Labor can still bring power prices down $275 per year by 2025—

quoting the now Prime Minister as saying—

… if we do other measures that we've got in place as part of our Powering Australia plan, we will see those energy prices drop.

The now Treasurer, Dr Chalmers, on Wednesday 25 May—this is now after the election—on 2GB Breakfast with Ben Fordham vowed that the Albanese Labor government had a climate and energy plan to produce cheaper renewable energy available to all Australian households, saying:

No Government, three days old, can kind of turn that around, but what we've said in our policy and the economic modelling of our policy—it is about $275 a year by 2025.

The now Treasurer, on 5 April, in his address to the National Press Club, said:

… it will also cut power bills by $275 a year by 2025, unlock $76 billion of investment and create over 600,000 jobs, most of these in the regions too.

On 27 April, in the Guardian, the now Treasurer is reported as saying:

On power prices, we have released the most comprehensive modelling that an opposition has released on a policy ever. Our powering Australia plan says that by the middle of this decade we will get power prices down by $275 a year.

The now Leader of the House, Mr Burke, on 19 June—again, after the election—said on Sky News: 'We stand by the modelling that was there that the impact of what we will do, particularly through transmission, allows you to get cheaper energy onto the grid. It'll deliver downward pressures on prices. We'll get it done.' On 19 June, a newspaper article stated, 'Senior minister Tony Burke insists Labor's promise to reduce household energy bills by $275 a year over five years is still intact.'

The now Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek, on 17 March, said on Sky News: 'We've also got plans to bring down the cost of electricity—$275 a year cheaper. These are the sorts of differences that we can make to people's lives every day if Labor is elected, and only Labor will do it.'

Katy Gallagher, the now finance minister, in the Canberra Times on 18 May, two days before the election, is quoted as saying, 'There's a once-in-a-century opportunity to reinvent our economy, build a better future and end the climate wars, invest in renewables and cut power bills by'—I think you'll be able to guess—'$275 over five years.'

An article in the Canberra Times, in referring to the now Minister for Defence, states:

As part of the policy, Labor anticipates household power bills would be $275 cheaper by 2025 and $378 less expensive in 2030, compared to today's rates.

Mr Marles said rigorous modelling was used to determine the figures.

"We will be giving rise to cheap power in this country, and that will drive economic growth, which will have a really significant impact on jobs," he said.

Senator Penny Wong is quoted as saying, 'Labor's Powering Australia plan will cut power bills, reduce emissions and bring renewable energy to Australian homes and save families $275 a year.'

But what happens then? On 28 July, an article in theDaily Mailstates:

Labor has already dumped its election promise to reduce power bills by $275 a year by 2025—after just six weeks in power.

The article states that Minister Bowen, asked if he still stands by Labor's $275 figure, didn't really say yes or no. He just said, 'Of course figures will move around.'

So there you go. This was one of the biggest commitments that this government made. They say they're going to have a new era of politics of transparency and be very upfront about what goes on, but they walk away. Six weeks after one of their major commitments in the election campaign, they walked away from it. The Prime Minister has been asked twice. No-one in Labor will mention $275 again in this House over the next three years, because what they've done has been deceitful.

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