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

The honourable member asked me about energy prices and he asked me about the impact of government policy. Well, the fact of the matter is that this government's intervention has saved a customer on Ausgrid $843; or, in Victoria, $555; $819 in South-East Queensland; $992 in South Australia. These are policies introduced by this Prime Minister, this Treasurer, this government and opposed—actually voted against in all readings of the House and in the Senate—by those opposite, and they have the temerity to come in here and say we should do something about power prices, when they voted against the intervention that was designed and has achieved those results!

Then we saw the Leader of the Opposition misquoting the Australian Energy Regulator in a previous question. But what the Australian Energy Regulator actually did do last week was announce reductions in power prices, partly as a result of the intervention of this government which they opposed. It takes more front than David Jones to come in here and oppose those things and then ask why we aren't doing more.

The honourable member also asked me about the Gas Statement of Opportunities and how it flagged shortfalls in gas. Let's go through the Gas Statement of Opportunities for the last 10 years. In 2013, the statement said:

… there may be potential shortfalls in Queensland and New South Wales …

In 2014, it said:

Short-term projected gas shortfalls remain unchanged to 2017 …

In 2015, it said:

Forecast gas supply gaps to 2034 in Queensland are 214 PJ …

In 2016 it said:

Shortfalls totalling 50 petajoules (PJ) are forecast …

I think there's a pattern emerging. In their 2017 gas report AEMO said:

Maintaining system security is becoming more challenging …

In 2018 they said:

Projected southern supply gaps first appear in 2030 …

In 2019 they said:

… the forecast supply-demand balance is tight from 2021 to 2023 …

Two patterns have emerged: shortfalls in every statement and all under a coalition government. What we have done is introduce a gas code of conduct which has seen new supply being legally enforced and promised. That will deal with, and has dealt with, the most immediate challenges relating to gas shortfalls. That is what we have done in relation to 10 years of policy indolence that the previous government were warned about on multiple occasions and did nothing about.

See this speech in context