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

My questions to the Prime Minister. On 9 June the energy minister stated: 'The Prime Minister said it very clearly in his press conference: there are a number of virtues for the clean energy target. It is technology neutral and it lowers electricity prices.' So why is the Prime Minister caving in to the member for Warringah by abandoning the clean energy target, a target which would save Australians money on their power bills?

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

I'm surprised that the Leader of the Opposition would open up with a question on energy prices on the very day—in fact, within not many minutes—that the Senate passed the abolition of the Limited Merits Review. This is a coalition government initiative, an initiative of my government, which the ACCC has said in its report will bring down the cost of energy in the future. Let's read what the ACCC said about our initiative: 'The ACCC welcomes the move. Reviews sought by network operators have added billions of dollars to the cost born by electricity users. The ACCC considers that the removal of this avenue of appeal will help ensure network pricing is moderated in the future.' That's the action we have taken. We have also taken action to ensure that retail costs come down. We've gone out to the retailers and ensured that they deliver the best deals to their customers. And thousands of Australian families are paying less for electricity now—saving hundreds of dollars a year in many cases—than they were before.

Of course, the single biggest factor in pushing up electricity prices in recent times has been the price of gas. Why's that? Well, the Labor Party in government allowed gas to be exported from the east coast of Australia without paying any attention to the need to protect the domestic market. We took strong action and we delivered a commitment—a contractual commitment—from the energy companies to supply more gas. As honourable members would know, wholesale prices have been coming down as a result.

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

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on direct relevance. The question only referred to the clean energy target. Both the quotation and the question were specific to the clean energy target, and the prime minister is talking about everything but the clean energy target.

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

Whilst the quote had many aspects in it, it did refer to the clean energy target. But I refer the Manager of Opposition Business to my earlier rulings on the subject matter, and the Prime Minister is speaking about energy. The Prime Minister has the call.

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

The Leader of the Opposition has been in favour of an emissions intensity scheme; he's been in favour of a clean energy target. The only thing they've got in common is that he doesn't understand how either of them works! He doesn't know the difference between a renewables target and an emissions reduction target—one slogan after another. I say to the Leader of the Opposition: we will deliver a careful energy plan based on engineering and economics, designed to deliver the triple bottom line of affordability, reliability and meeting our international commitments. And that is in stark contrast to the ideology and the idiocy that have been inflicted on us for years by the Australian Labor Party.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, 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 has done to ensure that energy is affordable and reliable for hardworking families and businesses, including those in my electorate of Robertson? 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 her question. Mr Speaker, let me start with the alternative approaches, because we know what the approach has been from the Labor Party. We do. We know what their approach is: no engineering and no plan; massive investment in renewables, with no regard to the fact that the sun doesn't shine all the time and the wind doesn't blow all the time; and force-feeding a massive amount of renewables into the South Australian market without any backup or storage whatsoever, driving out reliable power to introduce variable power—an extraordinary example of incompetence that resulted in South Australia having, as we know, to the great cost of South Australians, the most expensive and the least reliable electricity in Australia. This was a situation entirely created by a state Labor government that went into it with eyes open, proudly claiming this was a bold experiment. Well, it was an experiment, and what it demonstrated was that Australians need to know that, when they flick the switch, the lights will come on, and they need to be able to afford to pay the bill. That's what they managed to establish.

Now, what we've done since we came into office is systematically deliver policy that is based on fact and on engineering, and we have delivered lower prices for thousands of Australian customers of electricity.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Honourable members over there say no, we haven't. Oh yes, we have. Talk to your constituents; they'll tell you about the better deals they're getting. They're getting better deals. And what about all those businesses that depend on gas? They'll tell you that the wholesale price of gas is coming down. Why is that? Because of actions we took; that's why.

What about the biggest single cost in a retail customer's electricity bill? It's the cost of the network—the poles and wires. That's about half the bill. That cost has been going up year in, year out because the energy companies have been able to game the system and rush off to the courts to appeal against the Energy Regulator. Did we ever hear the Labor Party call for that to stop? Never. The only thing we saw when the energy minister did his best to persuade the states to agree to this was steadfast opposition from Labor governments, who did not want to see their own energy assets—in Queensland, for example—being prejudiced. We've delivered that now. Labor kicked this bill off to a committee. I'm glad it emerged and it has now been passed. So, that's what we're doing: bringing downward pressure on electricity prices, based on sound policy, facts and engineering— (Time expired)

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. In his presentation to the coalition joint party room, the energy minister confirmed 'a clean energy target lowers prices'. Given the energy minister told the government's own party room that it would lead to lower power prices, why is the government caving in to the demands of the former Prime Minister, the member for Warringah, by abandoning the clean energy target, which would save Australians money on their power bills?

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

I thank the member for Port Adelaide for his question. He comes from a state which has been run by a Labor government for nearly 16 years and has the highest prices and the least reliable energy system in the country. The member for Port Adelaide should know that in his own electorate Adelaide Brighton had to book a major loss as a result of the lights going out. That was in his own state and his own electorate.

The clean energy target was one of 50 recommendations from the Finkel review. We have said we will respond to the clean energy target as one of the recommendations. But we have also accepted 49 of the other recommendations, recommendations which will help deliver lower prices and a more reliable system. They include reforms like greater notice of closure, so large thermal generators like Hazelwood, or Northern in the minister's own state, cannot close with just a few months notice but with a minimum of three years notice; that intermittent sources of power, wind and solar, which Labor governments and the federal opposition have welcomed into the grid without the necessary back-up storage, will now be required to provide that storage; putting in place an energy security board to help implement the Finkel recommendations; importantly, developing our gas resources on a case-by-case basis using scientifically proven methods, not the blanket, mindless bans and moratoriums that the Labor Party has supported in many states and territories. If only the Labor government in the Northern Territory or Victoria developed their gas resources, people would have lower prices.

One thing we won't do on this side is we won't tell lies to the Australian people like the member for Port Adelaide did! Like the Leader of the Opposition did in the last sitting fortnight, when they came to the dispatch box and said that power prices have gone up by $1,000. You won't hear them repeat it anymore, because the Australian Energy Regulator and the Australian Energy Market Commission, in correspondence tabled in this House, have directly contradicted the claims from the Labor Party. So stop making things up. Stop making bogus claims. I say to the Opposition: repeat it in this House, have the courage of Braveheart, walk up to the dispatch box and repeat your lies of the past. You won't, because you know that it's misleading the Australian people.

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

The minister will return to the dispatch box and withdraw that unparliamentary term.

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

I withdraw that, Mr Speaker, but I do say—

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

No, you can resume your seat. You've finished. Is the member for Port Adelaide seeking to table a document?

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

I seek leave to table a PowerPoint presentation headed Clean Energy Target lowers prices from the energy minister.

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

Is leave granted? Leave is not granted.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on the release of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's preliminary report on retail electricity prices? Will he explain how the government is working to put downward pressure on energy prices, not just for the people of Petrie but for all hardworking Australian families and businesses?

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

I thank the member for Petrie for his question and for the hard work that he and all members on this side of the House are doing to ensure the government is putting downward pressure on electricity prices for their constituents, and for their passion and commitment to get the right deals for the consumers in their electorates. I know the member for Petrie would agree with the chairman of the ACCC, who said today, 'If you want to get cheaper electricity, then you've got to focus on what's caused electricity to become more expensive.' That was the message from the chairman of the ACCC today, and that is what I asked him to investigate back in April as part of the government's broader package of measures which is designed to put downward pressure on rising electricity prices. The commissioner has come back today with his draft report to get those facts. He has prised open the books of the electricity and energy companies, as he was empowered to do, and he's come back with some facts. He has commended the government on the action we've been taking to get this job done. The first finding, amongst many, is he has concluded that Labor's carbon tax drove up prices and, as a government, we were right to get rid of it. He concluded that Renewable Energy Targets are about subsidising investment in renewable energy to create a renewables industry with scale, not about bringing down prices, and he found they hadn't; in fact, they'd been pushing prices up. The customers have been paying for that, as he said, smearing costs right across the spectrum.

Labor wants a bigger Renewable Energy Target. They're not satisfied with the price increases that are being driven by the current one; they want one of up to 50 per cent, just like they want an emissions reduction target of 45 per cent that would require you to wipe out the emissions of the entire electricity industry. That is the plan of the Leader of the Opposition to drive up electricity bills. He's also found that, when you blow up coal-fired power stations, which the Labor Party cheered on, it pushes up prices, particularly when you have no plan to replace it with dispatchable base load power like this government has when it comes to Snowy 2.0. Blowing up coal-fired power stations with no plan is no plan at all, as we saw in South Australia. They also found that the big poles and wires companies, while state Labor governments stripped dividends off them and allowed them to gold-plate their infrastructure, drove up prices more than anything else. We have kicked out of the park this free kick that was provided to those companies, public and private, to do that. As the Prime Minister remarked, it has already passed in the Senate today. He found that the power retailers had been not treating their loyal customers well and had been mystifying their customers. The deal we put together with the electricity retailers was about ensuring those customers got a better deal, sitting down, getting the deal done, as we did with gas, delivering on our plan. (Time expired)

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

I refer to the Prime Minister's previous answer, where he claimed he had obtained—

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

If the Leader of the Opposition could just start again—I'm assuming you're directing your question to the Prime Minister.

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

Yes, the question is to the Prime Minister; I'm sorry. I refer to the Prime Minister's previous answer, where he claimed he had obtained contractual commitments from the big gas companies to supply more gas. Given that this is a contractual agreement, can the Prime Minister confirm what penalties will apply to the big gas companies under this contract, and will he table the contracts in the parliament?

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

The agreement that the gas companies entered into is a public document, and honourable members can peruse it at their leisure, but the reality is we've secured that agreement, and that is a very significant move. It is, in short, an agreement. It's an agreement as a contract.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Of course it is an agreement; it's a contract. You can use whatever semantics you like; the bottom line is this: we had the character and commitment to bring those gas companies to Canberra and get them to do the right thing by the Australian people, and the Labor Party did nothing. The Labor Party allowed gas to be exported from eastern Australia without doing anything to protect Australian consumers. Then the member for Port Adelaide told Barry Cassidy that they had no warning. 'Nobody told us; it all came as a bolt from the blue,' he said, 'How could it possibly happen that allowing all of this gas to be exported would affect the domestic market?' That's what he said on Insiders back in April, and then finally he had to fess up and tell the truth. The truth, very bluntly, is this: they were warned. They were told that allowing gas exports from the east coast without any protection for the domestic market would put upward pressure on prices and tighten supply, and that's exactly what happened. We, about to become the world's largest exporter of LNG, got to a point where businesses were looking at shutting down on the east coast because they couldn't get the gas they needed, and so we had the commitment to threaten to impose export bans on gas and negotiated with the companies and secured their commitment.

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

Has the Prime Minister concluded his answer?

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

I have.