Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in favour of this matter of public importance that's been brought by my friend and colleague, and our shadow energy minister, the member for Fairfax. Labor promised Australians before it went to the last election that energy bills would be reduced by $275. I have sat here and heard speeches today, and I'm going to start, first of all, with the member for Gellibrand saying it is all the fault of Russia having invaded the Ukraine. Russia invaded the Ukraine before the last federal election, and even after the Russian invasion of Ukraine then opposition leader Albanese continued to promise, on 97 separate occasions, that energy bills would reduce by $275. That is just one of this government's neglected promises.

The member for Macnamara spent four minutes today on this MPI discussing nuclear energy and ridiculing us. I will again invite the member for Macnamara to come out to the only nuclear reactor in this country; it's in my electorate of Hughes. He'll be welcome to come out and see what is being done out there—as would all of you across the floor. Come out and have a look at it. It's not scary. Speak to nuclear scientists and see what can be done.

The member for Gilmore spoke about having received letters of thanks for reducing the cost of living within her electorate. I've also received a letter—from Colin, of Loftus in my electorate. Colin's letter says: 'I have just received a letter from my energy company saying that my power bill is going up from the next quarter.' There are various rates quoted for different usage charges. For example, the peak usage on Colin's plan goes up by about 9.7 per cent over just one quarter. The letter cites three reasons for the increases: the rising cost of wholesale electricity, government green schemes and market charges, whatever they might be. The letter also states that the new rates are 13 per cent above the default market price. Colin has called it the 'DMO'. He says: 'I understand that the DMO is set by federal government. How can my energy provider charge more than the DMO, I wondered.' Colin then went and rang his energy provider and was told that he was on the best available plan, and he asks me how his energy provider is able to charge more than the DMO.

I have sent that correspondence through to Minister Bowen, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. I'm yet to receive a response, but I can say to Colin that one of the reasons that his energy bills are so high and continue to increase is a lack of supply. We have been saying this to those on the other side since May of last year. In particular, I'll draw attention to two of the major problems within my home state of New South Wales. Firstly, there is the delay to Snowy 2.0. Secondly, the Liddell Power Station, which represented 10 per cent of the New South Wales energy grid, has been permanently powered down. They are two of the problems for Colin and two of the problems for people not only in my electorate but in my home state of New South Wales and throughout the entire country.

We are hearing from those on the other side saying prices are coming down and that they are receiving all of these letters of gratitude from their electorates. I'd like to see some of those letters to the member for Gilmore, because I can assure you that, in my electorate, I am receiving letters every single day in the same vein as the one I've just quoted from Colin of Loftus. It cannot be the case that it is only those in Gilmore that are receiving these massive decreases in their cost of living when the rest of the country has been suffering, largely, under this Labor government. For example, households in my state of New South Wales are facing increases of up to 24.9 per cent—which is 25 per cent—and small business is facing increases of 21.6 per cent. To transfer that into dollar terms, that's $594 per quarter for every householder in New South Wales.

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