Russell Broadbent (Monash, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

In the Australian today, Nick Cater wrote:

In 2004, Australian electricity bills were the fourth-lowest in the OECD. The wind and solar caper had barely begun, and coal and gas supplied 91 per cent of the National Electricity Market. Today, after 20 years of subsidy chasing by the renewable energy industry, Australia has slipped to 10th place in the OECD rankings of end-user power prices.

In 20 years, Australia is dropping on a yearly basis by comparison with the rest of the world regarding the prices we charge our communities for their power. Who pays that price? I'll tell you who pays the price. It's the pensioners, people on disability support, single-parent households and low-income households that have paid the price for what's happened here over the last 20 years. On top of that, we have funnelled millions and millions of dollars into renewable energy projects over those 20 years.

I remember saying to a chief executive officer of a power company, 'How many wind towers would there be in Australia without a subsidy?' He went, 'Nil, none, not one.' We need to take good care of the people who are least able to pay, especially in the regions. Australia needs to turn around its approach to what we're doing on renewables.

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