Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to talk today about electricity, electricity prices and especially the rise of electricity prices in my electorate. I do not go to my constituents and ask them about this; they come to me. I have been getting a lot of visits on this subject for the last 12 months, especially from pensioner groups and other people on fixed incomes and from self-made people who cannot get the pension because they have, obviously, too many assets. The latter group are concerned because they can see their superannuation funds winding down very quickly. A lot of them say to me that they will soon be on a pension because of the rising cost of living in and around Australia but particularly in my area. It is boom or bust for people in my area. They are either on huge incomes or on very low or fixed incomes. People like doctors, policemen and schoolteachers are in different situations. Doctors are in huge demand, they fly in and fly out, but schoolteachers and policemen are on fixed incomes, paying very high rent and, on top of that, very high electricity prices.

Industry too is facing the challenge. The fact that a carbon tax is going to be introduced is causing panic. Also, before 2020, which is not all that far away, the intention is for 20 per cent of our electricity generation to come from renewable energy. Wind, solar and wave power and geothermal power are not going to cut it, I am afraid. The cost of these alternative energies is very high—six to 10 times higher than the price of coal fired power. We had three coal fired power stations in my electorate, but of course the Greens have put the kibosh on them. Those power stations do not know whether to keep on going, to keep on doing the maintenance, and they will not know until the situation becomes a lot clearer or there is a change of government. It is interesting to note that Germany and Japan are pulling out of nuclear power, and Germany has announced only in the last few months that it is going back to coal power. We have enough coal in Central Queensland alone—not even counting the coal in other parts of Australia—to keep coal fired power stations alive and well for the next 200 years.

There is also a dilemma with natural gas. For instance, America is producing a lot of gas and the price over there is dropping to about $2 a petajoule. But in Australia and Queensland the big gas companies have locked in a price of about $14 a petajoule and the local domestic price is about $6 to $8 a petajoule. That is a fair bit more than what the big industries are paying now and what people are paying in the hotels and motels where they have gas.

The cost of living is always a factor; it has been going up since day one. But now it seems to be going up a lot more and at a much faster rate. Between 2002 and 2007 the price of electricity in real terms was stable. Four years later, by 2011, prices had gone up by about 40 per cent. The international company who did research into this, the Energy Users Association of Australia, the EUAA, predict that by 2013-14 prices will have gone up by another 30 per cent. This is not good for us in our homes or in our industry. Australia is one of the top 16 countries in the world with the dearest electricity. South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales are among the top 10 users and payers of electricity. There is only one that is dearer than us, and that is in Norway. We have a real problem on our hands. We suggest that the carbon tax be wound back or, better still, finished. Wipe it out. (Time expired)