Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I do appreciate the sensitivities of those opposite, who voted against the coal and gas caps and voted against the energy rebates that were in the budget, which provided support to millions of households. I also understand the sensitivity of those opposite because the draft that was released today is the default market offer. That was released in accordance with the law; released openly and transparently. I did not sign a regulation to hide it. I did not instruct the Australian regulator today not to release it. It is possible to do such a thing. It has been done in the past. The former minister for energy signed such a regulation on 31 March 2022—which I table, signed by the member for Hume—instructing the Australian Energy Regulator not to release a 20 per cent increase in power prices just days before the last federal election, which was a very dishonourable thing for the honourable member to do.

Honourable members interjecting—

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