Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you. But if we want that to happen, there are some things that we can do that can help in a very concrete way. To get the job done, Australian manufacturers need access to affordable energy, be it for food manufacturing in Spence, making steel in Cunningham or producing trucks in Oxley. Our energy price relief plan is really important for Australian manufacturers. That will help them get goods to market better. It's also going to protect jobs. It will put downward pressure on prices and take up the fight on inflation.

When the global energy prices started to take off and you saw skyrocketing coal and gas prices, what did we get out of those opposite? We had 22 failed energy plans, and they actively conspired to hide price hikes from the Australian public. In the second quarter of 2022, the last quarter under those opposite, electricity prices paid by Australian manufacturers increased 60 per cent.

By contrast, new figures released last week showed that the Albanese government's approach is working. AEMO predicted electricity prices for manufacturers would go up by nearly 33 per cent in the second quarter of this year, but last week they showed prices actually went down 1.5 per cent. The big take-out on this is that the actions of the government helped shield manufacturers from the worst of the price increases. Those actions: an energy price cap, price relief for households, a mandatory code of conduct that makes it easier for manufacturers and producers to strike up contracts.

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