Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Small Business. Will the minister update the House on action the government is taking to protect small businesses from the impact of a costly and unreliable energy supply? What hurdles stand in the way to achieving energy affordability for hardworking Australian small businesses, such as Blu Logistics in Gympie, which has seen its power bill dramatically rise by 60 per cent in the last two years?

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wide Bay for his question. The Wide Bay electorate has more than 13,000 small businesses, and the member knows that it is those small businesses which create jobs and which create opportunities. I visited Gympie in the member's electorate recently and met Tim Jensen of Blu Logistics solutions. Running a fleet of prime movers and stainless steel food-grade tankers, Tim specialises in the collection of and transport of milk and other bulk food-grade liquids. His power prices have increased 60 per cent in the past two years. Tim is running a business connecting farmers with freight movement and families with food throughout five states. What could be more important? But high energy prices are a barrier to Tim's investment.

High energy prices cost jobs. High energy prices stop investment such as Tim's. High energy prices mean small businesses cannot have a go; they cannot grow. That is why this government has a plan to deliver energy security and affordability to small businesses and families who need the confidence that, when they flick the switch, electricity will be available and affordable. That is what this government can and will deliver—for example, through Snowy Hydro mark 2.

Today the government has announced the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the consumer watchdog, will conduct an extensive inquiry into rising power prices. The ACCC will investigate the National Electricity Market and retailer behaviour to ensure that the market is operating competitively. This government understands the cost of ideology in energy. We know it affects people such as Terry and Liz Poulton, small-business people from Dandenong in Victoria who were in the national headlines today. They are considering their business future after a shock electricity bill of more than $4,000 last month. That is up from an average of $1,300 per month, and it has real impacts on their small business. Terry and Liz have a dozen employees, so sky-high prices and empty promises from those opposite mean precious little. They mean very little when retailers announce a 13 per cent price hike in power prices for small businesses after the closure of the Hazelwood. They mean very little when household bills increase by 10 per cent. They mean very little when you are a small business trying to pay workers' wages.

The member for Wide Bay asked about uncertainty in small business. I can tell him that the cost of more than doubling electricity prices is uncertainty. A carbon tax, which those opposite want to reintroduce, creates uncertainty. Citizens' assemblies create uncertainty. Unrealistic renewable energy targets create uncertainty. These are just a handful of the 13 energy policies those opposite have had in eight years. Higher electricity prices for all Australians, that is what those opposite stand for. That is why we are calling in the watchdog. That is why we are delivering a better deal for small businesses and consumers. (Time expired)