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

My question's to the Prime Minister. How can the Prime Minister possibly expect Queenslanders to believe that he is not planning to force Queensland to privatise electricity assets when recommendation 2 of the government's own electricity report recommends that Queensland state-owned power stations should be sold off?

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

We've made it very clear that we don't support the privatisation of the Queensland assets. It's the Labor Party, who seem to be voting against the member for Kennedy's amendment to an important bill in this House, who would exactly do that. The ACCC has found that in Queensland, black coal generators have increased the price of some generation capacity despite no increase in fuel costs. This was likely due to a lack of competitive constraint and the highly concentrated market structure. The ACCC has found the Queensland government should take immediate steps to remedy the passed over investment of their network businesses in order to improve the affordability of the network. This would lead to savings for the consumers of Queensland by $110 a year.

We know that it was a Labor government—back in Queensland in 2011, with the Bligh government—that saw the consolidation of three businesses into two in the energy generation assets. This concentration has elevated wholesale prices due to low competition. If anyone has a case to answer for the high prices in Queensland, it's Labor governments both past and present. We on this side of the House have been seeing energy prices come down as a result of the actions we have taken. We on this side of the House have put into this place a piece of legislation to hold the energy companies to account. Unfortunately, it's the Leader of the Opposition who turns his back on this debate and who has turned his back on the Australian people.