Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. On Monday, the Prime Minister was asked if power prices were higher or lower since this government came to office and refused to answer. On Tuesday, the Prime Minister was asked about the average Sydney household paying $1,000 more since this government came to power and refused to answer. So Prime Minister, just answer: how much have power bills increased since the Liberals came to office?

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House and the Minister for the Environment and Energy will cease interjecting.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm glad to get a question on energy prices from the Leader of the Opposition. One thing we do know is that they doubled under the previous Labor government. One thing we do know is that they have increased substantially in very recent times because of the increase in the price of gas, and we know that that was because of a shortage in gas on the east coast because of a policy failure by the Labor Party, to which the member for Port Adelaide has, albeit belatedly, confessed.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He has. Absolution will be delayed, however—he shouldn't hold his breath for that. He needs a bit more penance. We also know that there has been an increase in the price of electricity in New South Wales in recent times because of the closure of Hazelwood and because that created a large gap in dispatchable energy across the electricity market. That resulted in an increase in excess of $50 a megawatt hour in New South Wales alone.

What we're doing is ensuring that everything we can do brings those prices down. This is what we've done. Firstly, we've gone to the retailers and said, 'You've got to get in touch with your customers and tell them if they're on the wrong plan,' and, do you know, thousands of people are now—

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order, on direct relevance. The question is: how much have they gone up?

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. As he knows from my previous rulings—

Mr Pyne interjecting—

The Leader of the House will cease interjecting. As the Manager of Opposition Business knows from my previous rulings, I give even extra latitude when the preamble is about 90 per cent of the question. The Prime Minister is in order.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. We have taken steps to ensure that those people get a discount and we know that many have, indeed many journalists have. They have written about it with pleasure and approval in their columns recently—hundreds of dollars. There is no compassion for the Press Gallery on that side of the House, no compassion for their household bills and no compassion for the blackout bills they will have to pay for if they don't get action on energy prices. We are bringing down gas prices already.

In terms of dispatchable energy, we are taking practical steps with AGL on Liddell. One obvious option to avoid it creating a big gap is to keep that power station running for longer, so we are exploring that with the company. In the longer term, we are building the biggest renewable power system in the country's history since Snowy 1. Snowy Hydro 2.0, which will make renewables reliable, is derided by the Labor Party as a stunt. They have no policies and no plan. The only thing that we know Australians will have to pay for is the blackout bill.

Honourable members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Kingston, who has already been ejected this week for persistent interjecting, is warned, as is the member for Barker.

Julia Banks (Chisholm, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on actions the government has taken to reduce the cost of electricity and gas for households and businesses including—

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will resume her seat. The member for Sydney is warned. The member for Chisholm can begin her question again.

Julia Banks (Chisholm, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on actions the government has taken to reduce the cost of electricity and gas for households and businesses, including in my electorate of Chisholm.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question. Our focus is on ensuring Australians have affordable and reliable power, that the lights come on and stay on, and that they can afford to keep them on. We know what happens when Labor governments fail to plan their electricity system properly. We know what happens in South Australia. The great confessor himself, the member for Port Adelaide, knows all about that. His state, thanks to absurd and ideological and idiotic Labor policies—

Mr Champion interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Wakefield is warned.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

have resulted in that state having the least reliable and most expensive electricity in Australia. We can't do what the opposition leader has said about the challenges we currently face and treat them as 'an issue down the track'—that was what he said—so we did the right thing. We went to the Energy Market Operator and we said, 'Tell us what is going to happen to base-load power in the years ahead: in the immediate term—this summer, for example—and in the future,' a very important question. We were advised that the closure of Liddell in 2022 would result in a big gap in dispatchable power, which would inevitably provide a similar shock to the closure of Hazelwood unless something was put in its place, and there was no evidence of anything being put in its place. So what did we do? We went to AGL and we said, 'Can you keep it going for longer? Can you consider selling it?' They've said, yes, they'll put that to their board. We thank them for that. They reckon they've got some other ideas. We'll look at them, too.

But what we are doing is addressing long-term problems today. I mentioned earlier the work that we're doing to ensure that we have the back-up. The storage that we need is vitally important. I'll give honourable members an insight into how uninformed the Labor Party was. When they published the modelling for their CPRS in 2012, all that they said about storage was this—in fact, they said nothing about it. They said that as intermittent generators such as wind produce less generation per unit of capacity on average than other generators it will require the installation of a greater amount of total generation capacity, particularly additional gas. Well, of course, thanks to them the gas was unaffordable. Labor never gave a thought to the fundamental challenges that face our market. We need to ensure that we have affordable and reliable power and meet our international obligations, and to do that you have to have a plan. (Time expired)

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I ask again: Prime Minister how much have power bills for Australians gone up since the Liberals formed government in 2013?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course we have seen increases in power prices recently—of course we have!

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They came down significantly when the coalition came into government and the carbon tax was abolished, but we have seen them going up again recently. The reason they have been going up is the impact of decisions taken by the Labor Party.

Opposition members interjecting—

The Labor Party can wave their arms around and shout as much as they like, but it was the Labor Party that allowed gas to be exported without any protection for the domestic market—none! They did not give any thought to the protection of the Australian market. They did nothing to ensure that gas would be developed onshore.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will resume his seat. Members on both sides will cease interjecting. The one thing I will disagree with the Prime Minister on is that members can't shout as much as they want. Anyone who continues to do so will be leaving under 94(a). The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order—I think I know which one.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My point of order is on direct relevance. This question, as you know—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business will take his seat. I am ready to rule on the matter. Whilst it was a short type of question, the Prime Minister addressed the substance of it very early on and he's entitled to remain on the policy topic. The Prime Minister is in order.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The important focus for all of us here should be ensuring that Australians' electricity prices are lower and that electricity is reliable, not just today and tomorrow—and I have described the steps we're taking to ensure that—but in the years and, indeed, decades ahead. That requires careful planning. The Leader of the Opposition groans when you talk about 'careful planning', and well he might: he is a complete stranger to it. He has never thought more than a moment ahead in time. He is all tactics and no strategy. What he said about Liddell is typical. When the Liddell closure and the implications of that were made plain, he said, 'That's an issue down the track.' Well, that's what happened with Hazelwood. It closed on five months' notice, or a bit less, and we saw a massive gap in dispatchable power. Had there been proper planning in place for that, which should have started many, many years before, that gap in dispatchability could have been taken up by something else or perhaps it could have continued for a few more years. But the reality is that the market fell off a cliff, and it's households and businesses that are paying the price. The same lack of planning was seen over gas, when the member for Port Adelaide first said, 'We weren't warned,' then had to admit that he had been warned—he had to fess up. The reality is that of course they were warned and they ignored it. Why? Because it was another issue down the track. That's the problem with Labor: no plan, no confidence, all ideology, all idiocy.