Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I feel a bit like I'm in the twilight zone. I've only been here for six months. I haven't got the experience of some in this chamber, but I never thought I'd see the day when the federal government would seek to legislate to enable price ceilings that will lead to supply shortfalls or run roughshod over parliamentary scrutiny in this manner. This bill will do nothing to resolve the central issues which are resulting in higher energy prices. At best, it is a bandaid solution. But the true intention, I believe, is absolutely clear. This legislation is designed to kill Australia's gas industry.

On Monday, the Prime Minister said the legislation would be available well in advance of this debate. The opposition—and I know the crossbenchers as well—only received this bill at 8.45 pm last night. This morning, the government has restricted debate. The expectation that the bill is going to be released, passed in this chamber, passed in the other chamber and be back here for amendments, I'm sure, within 24 hours, is absolutely ridiculous. The government has provided stakeholders with just five days to provide feedback on the imposition of a gas price cap. No real consultation has taken place on this bill. This bill is dripping with constitutional concerns, and I can absolutely predict that the High Court will be taking a very close look at this rushed legislation before too long.

The government's decision to recall parliament is a very costly exercise. If they had their act together, we could have definitely dealt with this matter in the last sitting week when we had to return to the address-in-reply because we'd run out of things to do in this chamber. This is an absolutely cynical move from the government to staple the relief measures to one of the most radical market interventions in Australia's economic history. The coalition support targeted and temporary cost-of-living relief. We want the bill split to stop this reckless intervention going forward while allowing struggling Australians to get the support that they need.

We've been here every sitting day since the election calling the government to account for their solemn promise to reduce household energy bills by $275. This wasn't a fleeting promise. This wasn't something the Prime Minister said in error when under the pump at a press conference. This was a promise made 97 times prior to the election. But then, after the election, we got the truth. In the October budget Labor predicted that after two years of their policies, electricity prices would go up by 56 per cent and gas up by 44 per cent. Having now seen their policy, their approach to this issue, I think that these predictions will be woefully underdone.

The provisions in this bill reach far beyond a 12-month price cap. The government's legislation will give it unprecedented powers to control the Australian energy sector. It delegates power to the Treasurer to make broad ranging regulations to control pricing, contracting and purchasing activities in the gas market. Any economics student could tell you what the impacts of price ceilings are. It is one of the most fundamental principles of economics. Every school of economic thought holds that price controls affect supply: price floors lead to a surplus; price caps lead to shortages. Only the Albanese government could come up with a solution to gas shortages that makes the shortage worse. Therein lies the inherent public policy challenge here: the government don't understand the problem, so how can we expect them to develop a solution? They've had six months. They've promised it. They said it was coming. It was coming and so was Christmas. Hence the rushed, panicked, eleventh-hour response that we are seeing from the government today.

The gas industry is of critical importance to the people in my electorate. Queensland has a strong gas industry that employs many people within my electorate of Bowman. This industry is already reviewing its current and future investment in gas projects. The headlines over the last week from different gas companies outlining their expected response to these changes are quite staggering. MST Marquee analyst Mark Samter described this move as the 'single worst piece of energy policy I've seen anywhere in the world in almost 20 years looking at global energy markets'.

At a time when the government should be supporting new supply, they are doing the exact opposite. They are cutting funding to develop new gas basins and upgrade critical infrastructure that will get the gas to where it is needed. The legislation is rushed for what amounts to one of the largest interventions in the Australian economy. In fact, Australia hasn't legislated a price ceiling on a mineral commodity since 1944, back when we chose to partake in a global effort to stabilise the gold price. Mark my words: this will lead to a gas supply crisis in Australia, and those who've introduced this legislation and those who vote for it will be held responsible.

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