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

My question is to the Prime Minister. This morning the former Deputy Prime Minister, the member for New England, said of the Prime Minister's energy policy, 'I've heard the stories in the past about how it was going to drive down prices, and it didn't.' Why should Australians believe promises from this Liberal-National government when even the former Deputy Prime Minister has confirmed the government lied on power bills before?

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

I just caution the member for Port Adelaide on some of the language in that. I will happily hear from the Manager of Opposition Business.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business (House)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On that point, the phrase, with respect to Labor, has been used many times in answers. If there's to be a new ruling, we're not objecting in any way to the new ruling but simply want to note that this, as I understand it, would not be a ruling with respect to questions but a ruling with respect to what is parliamentary.

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

I will call the Minister for the Environment and Energy. I thank the Manager of Opposition Business.

Mr Butler interjecting—

Yes, and I can go through the Practice again about how the Prime Minister is entitled to refer the question to any minister.

Mr McCormack interjecting—

The Deputy Prime Minister will cease interjecting. The minister for the environment has the call.

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

The parliament knows that, when the carbon tax was abolished, the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirmed there was the single biggest drop in electricity prices ever recorded. That is the fact of the matter. Yesterday, in the MPI debate, I read into Hansard an ACCC press release which said that the $550 reduction that was coming from the abolition of the carbon tax, and estimated by Treasury, was absolutely reasonable.

But what the member for Port Adelaide fails to tell this House is that, when Labor was last in office, electricity prices doubled. They went up each and every year. The member for Port Adelaide comes from a state where a Labor government completely wrecked the energy system, and South Australia was left with the highest prices in the country. In the member for Port Adelaide's own electorate, companies lost their power and lost jobs and lost millions of dollars as a result. What did the member for Port Adelaide call it? He called it a hiccup.

As the Prime Minister has made clear, everything's been revealed by LEAN Australia, who said, 'High prices are not a market failure; they are proof of the market working well.' What do you think the shadow minister for energy thinks about LEAN? He says:

In my nearly 30 years in the Party, I have not seen an organising effort on a policy issue like LEAN has delivered. It was phenomenal … It gave Bill, I, and the rest of the shadow cabinet the assurance that the Party was behind us as we stepped out to lead on climate change.

So LEAN speaks for the Labor Party. LEAN directs the shadow minister.

Just to finish, today there was a very revealing front page in The Australian Financial Review, which made it very clear that higher emissions reduction targets will mean higher prices for Australian consumers. The Grattan Institute said, on Labor's claims that prices would go down as a result of higher emissions reductions target, that this is 'unlikely to be sustainable', would 'accelerate plant closures', 'requires higher consumer prices' and would be 'inherently uncertain'. This is what the Labor Party is promising the Australian people: higher power prices, lower stability, reckless renewable energy targets and recklessly high emission reduction targets which the business community and the people of Australia reject.

Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Will the minister update the House on the importance of affordable energy in maintaining Australia's international competitiveness and how Australian energy prices compare to other nations? Is the minister aware of any other suggestions?

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Boothby for her question. She is a great advocate for employers and employees in her electorate and has been for many, many years. Australia is a global energy superpower.

Mr Champion interjecting—

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

The member for Wakefield is warned.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are a leading exporter of coal, LNG and uranium. We are a leading researcher into the technologies surrounding solar power, pumped hydro storage and battery power. Yet under successive state and federal Labor governments, paradoxically, this global energy powerhouse, this superpower, has amongst the highest electricity prices in the world because of Labor policies. Indeed, the ACCC report commissioned by the Treasurer into electricity affordability has shown that South Australia has the third highest electricity price in the world. Across the planet, South Australia had the highest electricity prices. It's also shown that the average National Energy Market price is higher than the average of the entire European Union. So these are monumental failures by Labor governments.

The independent Energy Security Board has warned that high electricity prices will impact on Australia's international competitiveness. That will harm our economic growth. That will harm our jobs growth. That is why the Turnbull government has intervened in the gas supplies to secure them. That is why the Turnbull government has taken on the electricity generators and the retailers. As a result, we are seeing prices coming down. That is why the big businesses in Australia who employ thousands and thousands of Australians back our National Energy Guarantee, because they know it's a mechanism to bring prices down. In fact, it's estimated that wholesale electricity prices will decrease by 20 per cent. Of course, in addition, we will see the forecasts of average household bills coming down by $550. That poses the question: why does Labor support policies that will harm our international competitiveness and destroy jobs? It is because Labor is captive to the Greens. That is why Labor has an ideological, irresponsible, 50 per cent renewable energy target and an irresponsible 45 per cent emissions reduction target. They will harm Australian industries. They will harm jobs. That is why we back a National Energy Guarantee, because the Turnbull government stands for affordable and reliable power. Labor stands for higher prices, higher costs, fewer jobs.

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

My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister confirm that the Energy Security Board modelling reveals—

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

The Leader of the Opposition Leader will resume his seat. I heard an unparliamentary and unsavoury term. I want to ask the member for Eden-Monaro whether he uttered it.

Mike Kelly (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence Industry and Support) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If it was, Mr Speaker, I withdraw.

Government members interjecting—

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

Members on my right! I'm waiting for members to cease interjecting. The Leader of the House.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the hallmarks of this house is robust debate, but it should not degenerate into that kind of gutter language in the chamber. The member should do more than withdraw; he should apologise and withdraw.

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

The Leader of the House makes a fair point. The practice makes it clear that a withdrawal is regarded as an apology, but, I think, given the circumstances, it would assist the House if the member for Eden-Monaro did both.

Mike Kelly (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence Industry and Support) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I apologise and withdraw.

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

I will call the Leader of the Opposition to begin his question again.

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

My question is to Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister confirm that the Energy Security Board modelling reveals that, under the National Energy Guarantee, residential electricity bills will increase by $210 between 2024 and 2030, and that wholesale electricity prices will actually rise from 2024?

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

What is absolutely clear from the Energy Security Board's modelling is that power prices with the National Energy Guarantee will come down by $550. That's why the member for Port Adelaide described it as a very good design. That is why he described it as being a Rolls Royce. That is why the International Energy Agency said this would be a model for other countries around the world. That is why every large miner, manufacturer, farmer and industry group from around the country has got behind the National Energy Guarantee. The Leader of the Opposition talks a big game. He wrote to the Prime Minister last year, and said, 'I want to reach across the political divide. I want to end the climate wars. I want to lower power prices.' But, when it comes to walking the talk, he goes missing. It's maybe because they don't even know what their own policy is.

They went to the last election promising an emissions intensity scheme. That will drive power bills up by $300, compared to the National Energy Guarantee. They went to the last election with a 45 per cent emissions reduction target, which the Business Council of Australia, representing a million-plus workers across the country, described as economy wrecking. They went to the last election with a 50 per cent renewable energy target, but they don't know what their own policy is.

You'd think the shadow Treasurer, the member for McMahon, would know about their renewable energy target. He went on Sky with David Speers, and David Speers asked: 'What about the renewable energy target? You have heard Bill Shorten on radio this morning, I'm sure, unable to say what it would cost. Are you able to say what it would cost?'

Member for McMahon: 'W-w-w-well, what we have i-i-i-is two Labor policies: the renewable energy target; and then there's the goal of getting to 50 per cent renewable energy.' 'Hang on', says Speers, 'There's a difference between a goal and a renewable energy target?' 'Well, there's a renewable energy target, um, and then we have the 50 per cent aspiration, which is separate to our renewable energy target.' 'Hang on,' says David Speers, 'That sounds like an important nuance.' Member for McMahon: 'Well, there's nothing new here, David; nothing new. You asked me about the renewable energy target, and I don't want to mislead you.' David Speers: 'Your colleague Mark Butler does refer to it is as the 50 per cent renewable target.' 'Oh, well, then there's the RET, and I'm being precise with, you know, you know, intentionally.' The Leader of the Opposition, the member for McMahon and the member for Port Adelaide don't even know what the policy is. But what the Australian people know is one thing: under the Labor Party, you'll always pay more for your power.

Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation. Would the minister update the House on how small businesses will benefit from the implementation of the government's National Energy Guarantee? Could the minister also advise on how these businesses would be adversely affected if alternative proposals are implemented?

Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Cowper for his question, acknowledging that he has a regional seat. In the winter recess I had the opportunity to travel around Australia and visit places like Cairns, with the member for Leichhardt; Noosa, with the member for Wide Bay; Lismore, with the member for Page; Mount Gambier, with the member for Barker; and Shepparton, with the member for Murray.

In all these places, it didn't take long, when talking to small and family business operators, for the conversation to turn to power prices. In fact, in the member for Leichhardt's seat, one store owner told me that power is now his biggest monthly expense, overtaking his rent for the first time. That's why the moves by the Minister for the Environment and Energy—the work he's done so far—have had great results. Wholesale power prices are 25 per cent lower this year. In my home state of New South Wales, as of 1 July, power prices decrease both for small and family businesses, and residential.

But the National Energy Guarantee is the missing piece of the puzzle, the piece that we need to introduce, so that small and family businesses Australia-wide will have the opportunity, as the modelling shows, to enjoy 20 per cent, on average, of wholesale electricity price decreases in the lead-up to 2030. This would allow small and family businesses to have more of their own money kept in their pocket. What happens then—and we've seen it today with the latest unemployment figures; we've heard it from the Treasurer and the Prime Minister with the million jobs created by the economy over the last 4½ years—is that small and family business owners will reinvest in themselves, back themselves, take on bank debt and employ more people. That's what happens.

The minister for the environment has mentioned already today: it's not just business groups representing businesses, irrespective of size, that are saying that this is a policy position that should be adopted; it's all across the board. Ben Davis, the Victorian secretary of the AWU—the Leader of the Opposition's own union, from his background—said in the last 24 hours, 'This must be passed through parliament.'

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The CFMEU.

Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I note the interjection of the CFMEU. It's not often that you'll find me standing at this despatch box agreeing with something that they say. But the national president of the CFMEU, Tony Maher, in the last 48 hours has come out in support of the National Energy Guarantee. For the sake of households and small and family businesses across Australia, irrespective of size, it is vital that the Leader of the Opposition, for once in his life, shows he's more interested in political outcomes than political games.