Mark Butler (Port Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Energy. Can the minister confirm that yesterday he claimed in the House:

… since the start of the coalition government in 2013, prices across average Sydney households on standing offers have varied from increasing by $1 to falling by $473.

Is this Liberal government so out of touch that they believe power prices have gone down since they were elected? If so, does the minister want to spend the next three minutes claiming that working families in Australia have never been better off?

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

The member for Port Adelaide has some cheek. He has some cheek because in this House he told a falsehood. Let me first deal with his question. We have tabled information in the parliament to indicate that, as of 1 July, we saw power bills increase in Sydney. AGL increased by $296; Origin increased by $310; Energy Australia increased by $320. But, if you look back in the years since we came to government, you see big drops—for example when we abolished the carbon tax. The member for Port Adelaide should know that, because he put out a newsletter. He put out his own newsletter, which said the decision to terminate the carbon tax will save the average family around $380. That is what he said.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

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

What a genius. The Prime Minister knows that the ACCC has confirmed that the average Australian household has saved overall about $550 from the abolition of the carbon tax. We have said that power prices have increased, and we are working to do everything we can to put downward pressure on power prices. The Australian people are rightly concerned about rising power prices—but not the Leader of the Opposition.

Let's remind the House what the member for Port Adelaide said yesterday. He said the Australian Energy Regulator and the Australian Energy Market Commission had produced data which indicated that the average Sydney household had seen their power prices increase by $1,000. Now we have tabled in the parliament statements from both the Australian Energy Market Commission and the Australian Energy Regulator contradicting the Labor Party. Labor have manipulated and deceived the Australian people by using data that never existed. It's up to the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Port Adelaide and the dozen other members opposite to come to the dispatch box to apologise to the Australian people and to set the record straight. The Australian people know that when the Labor Party was in office, power bills increased by over 100 per cent—that was the record. Labor is selling out blue-collar workers in order to win Green votes in the city, and only the Turnbull government will help create an affordable and reliable power system.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on what the government is doing to ensure Australians have affordable and reliable electricity, including in my electorate of Swan, and is the Prime Minister aware of any alternative approaches?

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

I thank the honourable member for his question. As we've seen from today's job data, our commitment to jobs and growth is not a slogan; it's an outcome—strong jobs growth, with 325,600 jobs in the last 12 months. But to maintain that strong growth, Australians need affordable and reliable electricity. What we have seen is Labor Party policies drive prices up. They've gone up over the last 18 months or so because of the closure of a big base load power station in Hazelwood and, above all, the high price of gas. We know, too, that the coalition's policy of abolishing the carbon tax brought prices down. Coalition policies have brought prices down, and the inherited consequence of the Labor Party's mistakes—particularly with respect to gas and particularly by overlooking the pretty obvious fact that the wind doesn't blow all the time and the sun doesn't shine all the time—is that we have seen a dramatic rise in prices. But we are taking action in the medium term, the long term and right now, and we've seen gas prices start to come down because of our foreshadowed limitations on exports.

I want to talk about what we've done to help families with their bills today. I want to talk about the way we brought in the electricity retailers and said to them: 'We know that two million of your customers, at least, are paying more than they need to for electricity. What are you going to do about it? You owe an obligation to them.' We said to those big energy bosses, 'You've got to look after your customers and let them know—

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

The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The member for Burt, on a point of order?

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On relevance: the member for Swan asked a very direct question about energy—

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

The member for Burt will resume his seat. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

We asked what they would do for their customers, and they're advising those on the wrong plan that they are on the wrong plan, and thousands of people are getting a better deal. We've seen so many reports in the paper, but I'll refer to one: Christine DaCosta, a single mother with four children living in Brisbane. She used the Energy Made Easy website of the federal government and found a better deal that'll save her $300. That's action for her—that's real money. The Labor Party scoffs at a $300 saving, but it means a lot to Christine and her family, and it's an indication of how out of touch Labor is that it is not prepared to support the government in keeping energy affordable and reliable.

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

Before I call the member for Lindsay, I have regularly asked the members for Burt and Lyons to cease interjecting. I'm placing them both on notice now.

Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Energy. Yesterday the minister said power bills for Sydney households had gone down by more than $470 since this government was elected. Does this minister honestly expect households in my electorate to believe that, compared to 2013, their power bills have actually gone down by more than $470 per year?

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

Come in, spinner! The honourable member should know that, under the Labor Party, power bills would always be higher—much higher—because the Labor Party did not support the abolition of the carbon tax. The Labor Party did nothing. The ACCC have told us that, as a result of the abolition of the carbon tax, the average Australian household has been better off overall by $550. The Prime Minister, with the retailers, is seeing millions of Australians get a better deal. And we know that 50 per cent of Australian households have not moved retailers or contracts in the last five years, despite them being able to make savings of more than $1,000 or more. And what about the networks? Under the Labor Party, the regulator returns were around 10 per cent. Under the coalition now, it's just above six per cent. That means those people in Sydney can be up to $300 a year better off. And what about the decision to abolish the limited merits review process to stop the networks gaming the system? Well, those honourable members opposite who live in New South Wales were just slugged an additional $3.5 billion, courtesy of that limited merits review process. If the Labor Party had done anything when they were in office to abolish that, consumers in New South Wales would have been $3½ billion better off. That is why we have taken action on this front. This is also why the Prime Minister has worked diligently to ensure that there's more gas supplied into the domestic market, and we have seen the spot market fall.

But I have to say that the Labor Party, without having any answers on energy policy, and a track record of a 100 per cent increase, has actually left itself vulnerable now, to the point that it is making up the facts—facts that have been contradicted by the Australian Energy Regulator and by the Australian Energy Market Commission. The Leader of the Opposition sent out a tweet saying that the Liberals have delivered power bills that have been more than $1,000. Well, we've heard from the Australian Energy Market Commission and the Australian Energy Regulator that that is false. This reminds us of Mediscare—this reminds us of the shameful Mediscare lie.

Ms Catherine King interjecting—

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

The member for Ballarat is warned.

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

I call upon the Leader of the Opposition to come to the dispatch box, to come clean with the Australian people, to stop the deceit, to stop the lies, to stop the falsehoods, to correct the record and to tell the Australian people that he has been telling falsehoods and deceiving them about power prices. (Time expired)

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

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources and Minister for Resources and Northern Australia. Will the Deputy Prime Minister inform the House how the government is working to deliver more reliable and affordable energy for agricultural businesses across Australia, including in my electorate of Flynn? Is he aware of any alternative approaches?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. I note that we have had great success in agriculture. It's been a great honour. I will soon have been the minister for four years, so it's a great honour. And we've seen the results this year, with agriculture growing by 22.6 per cent in the last year. In fact, agriculture was the fastest-growing sector in the GDP figures. That goes to show you what a difference a good government makes. If you want to see that in a more anecdotal form, you can see it in such things at table grapes, which grew by 370 per cent from 2015 to 2016. Or you can see it in chickpeas to India, which grew by 90 per cent from 2016 to 2017. Or you could see it in the increase in live cattle volumes—something the Labor Party shut down. They're good at shutting down things—shut down coal-fired power, shut down the live cattle trade. To Indonesia, since 2013, live cattle volumes have grown by 94 per cent; to Vietnam, since 2013, by 1,673 per cent; and to China, since 2013, by 106 per cent.

But it's not just in those areas where we've seen a change in agriculture. We've seen $724 million lent out in concessional loans and 4,000 km of dog fences built to bring sheep back into the western districts. We have put legislation together to build a $4 billion Regional Investment Corporation in Orange. In the last round of applications for APVMA in Armidale there were 450 applicants. We're rolling out country-of-origin labelling, so people in this nation know where their food comes from and the proportions from each country of destination their food comes from and they can back in Australian workers. The wine equalisation tax reforms and the wine industry reforms will see our wine industry go from $2.3 billion to $3.5 billion by 2020. We have set out a process of making sure we deal with invasive species, such as parthenium, prickly acacia and blackberries. In Tasmania we're seeing water infrastructure rolled out. There is the Macalister Irrigation District in Victoria, the Loddon-Wimmera pipeline and the Northern Adelaide Irrigation Scheme, using recycled water.

There is one threat, of course, and that's power prices. The people of Australia know that they cannot trust the shifty member for Maribyrnong. They couldn't trust him with the figures yesterday; they can't trust him today. The blue-collar workers can't trust the member for Maribyrnong. Mr Rudd could not trust the member for Maribyrnong. Ms Gillard could not trust the member for Maribyrnong. Labor can't trust the member for Maribyrnong. We can't trust the member for Maribyrnong. The Australian people can no longer trust the member for Maribyrnong.

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Energy: This government is now in its fifth year in office. Why did the minister tell Sydney householders their power prices have gone down? Why doesn't this Liberal government understand that people in my electorate are doing it tough? Just how out of touch is this Liberal government?

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

The member for Chifley is not a bad bloke, but he's got his facts wrong again. Again the Labor Party is repeating falsehoods in this place, misleading the Australian people, making facts up on the run, deceiving them about what the Australian Energy Regulator and what the Australian Energy Market Commission have said. The reality is that power prices in Sydney have recently gone up. We've seen a substantial increase in July, and we also saw an increase in 2016. In the years prior, we saw some decreases. But we have seen nothing like the 100 per cent increase that we saw under the Labor Party. As the Prime Minister has said, we are cleaning up Labor's mess following their failure to heed the warnings of their own energy white paper and their failure to heed the warnings of the Australian Energy Market Operator when it came to setting up large exports of gas from the east coast and the impact that that would have on shortfalls and on price. We know that gas is increasingly setting the price of electricity.

If the Labor Party had only been sensible, if they'd only had some foresight, if they had only prepared, then we wouldn't have been in the situation we are in today, with gas prices tripling over the last five years. And what about their idiocy when it comes to coal? The member for Hunter, who's waving the white flag over Liddell, who's refusing to stand up for his workers, who will go to Newcastle, write in the Newcastle Herald, 'I'm the best friend of the coal workers,' then comes into this place and votes for motions that say coal has no future in Australia. That is what the member for Hunter does. What about the member for Shortland? In his maiden speech he bashes his chest and he says, 'I'm the great friend of coal; I'm a descendant of coal workers' but in this place he's overseeing policies that will close our coal-fired power stations, even though coal is a source of reliable and affordable power.

There's a clear line of difference between this side of the House and those opposite. Those opposite want to join with the Greens to sell out blue-collar workers to try to win some votes in the inner city. We on this side of the House want to stand up for manufacturers. We want to stand up for industries, like in the member for Wannon's electorate and in the member for Grey's electorate. We stand with the—

Ms Swanson interjecting—

Mr Pasin interjecting—

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

The minister will resume his seat. The member for Paterson and the member for Barker are carrying on a conversation. They can now continue it outside the chamber. They can both leave under 94(a).

The member for Paterson and the member for Barker then left the chamber.

And the member for Chifley might be listening outside to the rest of the answer to his question if he continues to interject!

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

After the Labor Party's record of a hundred per cent increase in power prices, only the Turnbull government will ensure a reliable and affordable power system.