Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline to the House why it is important to take an all-of-the-above approach to sources of energy to put downward pressure on energy prices? Why is this important for jobs in my electorate? Is the Treasurer aware of any alternative approaches?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bonner for his question. A key part of the Prime Minister's plan to put downward pressure on rising electricity prices is to have a durable investment framework that will encourage investment in new sources of energy supply, but also to ensure that we have base-load energy supply to support the growth of our economy, to ensure that businesses don't shut down, as they had to do in South Australia because of the failed energy policies and experiments that are the policy of the federal Labor Party. That is the way that Australians can get more hours; when their businesses stay open. That is the way Australians can get jobs; when the businesses they work for can stay open. Our policy is designed to put downward pressure on electricity prices in order to do that.

It is very important when you land on an investment framework that you ensure that you embrace all of the potential energy sources available to you, that you have an all-of-the-above approach, that you ensure you are taking advantage of the traditional advantages that we have as a country with our traditional sources, such as coal, but also to ensure that we are taking advantage of the renewable energy resources as well. The Labor Party is standing in the way of us achieving that type of durable investment framework, because they are imposing a coal veto on Australia. They are putting a coal veto on an investment framework that can secure base-load energy support for Australia. They announced it before the last election. In their policy released in April before the last election, they said they would introduce a framework to kick-start the closure of Australia's coal-fired power plants. That was the plan. That was the design. That was the intention.

The member for Shortland, the member for Hunter, the member for Paterson—the whole crew—signed up to a plan to shut down coal-fired power stations in this country. In fact, they went further. They said they would retire them. They said they would retire Australia's existing coal-fired generation. They had the policies to back that up, because they had a 45 per cent emissions reduction policy, which is twice what the government's is. The cost to jobs and the cost to wages and the cost to the economy would follow from that. They would be responsible for that. On top of that, they have a 50 per cent renewable energy target that the shadow Treasurer cannot even explain, let alone own up to when asked about it.

No-one who works in the coal industry or in traditional power generation should be in any doubt that this Leader of the Opposition or the Labor Party are on their side. They are not on their side. They can count on this side of the House. As we have seen at Whyalla and in Portland, this government, the Turnbull government, stands up for jobs in those industries, while those opposite have a policy to shut them down. They are cheering on the closure of Hazelwood and they are cheering on AGL as they close down Liddell. (Time expired)

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Before coming to office, the Liberal Party promised families they would be $550 a year better off because of lower power prices. This government is now in its fifth year in office. Can the Prime Minister confirm that the average Sydney household is paying almost $1,000 more on power bills this year than when the federal Liberal government was first elected in 2013?

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can tell the honourable member she has just made that number up. Where is your evidence? There is absolutely no evidence for that. What I can tell you is the evidence from the ACCC's report from 2015, which said: 'The Commonwealth Treasury’s estimated $550 cost saving to households is reasonable.' That is what came from the abolition of the carbon tax. Under the Labor Party, electricity prices increased by more than 100 per cent. That was the record of the Labor Party. Indeed, in your own election platform that you went to the last election with, you said: 'From 2007 to 2013, average retail electricity prices in Australia soared.' That's the Labor Party's own election platform. That is what you acknowledge happened on your watch.

On the Prime Minister's watch, what we have seen is an attempt across a whole range of areas to put downward pressure on prices such as the gas price. The spot price for gas has come down significantly from the beginning of this year, and every dollar a gigajoule that it comes down is worth $10 a megawatt hour to households in reduced prices. When it comes to the networks, under the Labor Party the rate of return for those investments was around 10 per cent. Today, it is just above six per cent. That leaves Australian consumers about $300 a year better off. In the state of Queensland, it was government-owned generators that were gaming the system and saw Queensland have the highest wholesale electricity prices in the National Electricity Market for the first five months of this year. Under pressure from the Commonwealth government, the Queensland Labor government had to give a direction to those operators to put more supply into the market and no longer game the system. This can be worth up to $100 a year to Queensland households.

So right across the board we're taking action, not to mention for retail customers. The actions by the Turnbull government can see Australian households save more than $1,000 a year by moving retailers or by changing contracts. We know that 50 per cent of households have not changed retailers or contracts in the last five years, even though there are these enormous savings to be found. So, whether it's the work we're doing with the networks, the work we're doing with the retailers or the work we're doing with the gas, we are driving electricity prisons down, whereas Labor's record was only higher prices, which more than doubled on the Leader of the Opposition's watch.

Mr Butler interjecting—

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

The member for Port Adelaide—no, sorry. No, the member for Port Adelaide will resume his seat. He hasn't asked the question, so he's not in a position to table anything. It's the Independents' question.