Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Treasurer. On Sunday the Treasurer said about the government abandoning his National Energy Guarantee:

No-one is more disappointed than I am about that, because a lot of work went into the National Energy Guarantee.

Can he confirm that his own modelling warned that abandoning the NEG would see power bills rise by $300? Isn't it really more disappointing that Australians will pay an extra $300 on their power bills because of a government that even the Prime Minister refers to as the muppet show?

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The reality is twofold. Firstly, under the Labor Party when they were in office power prices doubled. Under the coalition they're coming down. They're coming down! On 1 July this year they came down in South Australia, they came down in Queensland and they came down in New South Wales. We know that through the interventions of the coalition government and through the work of the member for Hume they will come down further. Our interventions in the gas market have seen prices come down by up to 50 per cent. We're getting clarity around the retail offerings so they're not as complex and confusing for households. We took action that the Labor Party refused to take when they were in office. We abolished the limited merits review. If the Labor Party had done that it would have saved consumers $6½ billion. That's the reality. We are focused unequivocally on price. Price is our first, second and third commitment. That's our priority. Under the Labor Party, you will always pay more for your power bills. They have reckless targets and they have no way to get there. Under the coalition, prices have come down and will come down further.