Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Last week I met with Louis and Tess, who run a cafe in Fairfield. Louis and Tess were promised that a Labor government would bring down power prices by $275 a year, but they are facing a 56 per cent rise in power prices over the next two years, and are forced to take measures like turning off the air conditioning to try to rein in surging costs. Will the Prime Minister apologise to families and businesses like the one Louis and Tess run for not delivering on his commitment to cut electricity prices by $275?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. We stand by the evidence, which is that renewables are the cheapest form of power and the best way to get power prices down is to get renewables up. That's exactly what this budget has done: nearly $24 billion for clean energy, investing in Marinus Link, renewable energy zones, offshore wind, pumped hydro, community batteries, solar banks. All of this is making up for a decade of neglect, a decade of denial, a decade of chaos.

On those opposite's watch, we had four gigawatts leave the system and one gigawatt come in. That's what occurred from those opposite. Common sense tells you that, with demand and supply, if you have less supply but demand is going up, then you will have pressure when it comes to prices. But, of course, those opposite were too busy fighting for power amongst themselves to worry about generating power for the country. That's essentially the problem that occurred. They had a rotation of ministers. Every time that they had the potential of an energy policy being adopted, even ones that could have been adopted with bipartisan support, instead of adopting them, they just rolled the leader. That's what occurred. They were too busy worrying about their own squabbles.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order?

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, the point of order is no relevance. I ask that you follow in the tradition of Speaker Jenkins and direct the Prime Minister to relate his material to the question at hand, not to some kind of historical excursion. He's looking for every reason to avoid answering a clear and direct question.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Going to the point of order, Mr Speaker, this was hardly a tight question. It went for the full 30 seconds available and asked what the impacts of electricity prices were on a cafe in Fairfield. The Prime Minister is going to exactly why there's pressure on those families and those households and their businesses right now.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister is in order. The question was about power prices, and the question was about commitments about those prices. I'm listening carefully to the Prime Minister, and I give him the call.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks very much, Mr Speaker. Of course, what we know is that there are two big reasons why there is pressure on prices at the moment. One of which, as I've outlined already, is the failure of those opposite to build enough supply to generate power in the country because they were too busy worrying about power struggles within themselves. But the second, of course—and this might be a news release for those opposite—is the fact that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to global rises in power prices that have occurred throughout the entire world. Those opposite seem oblivious that this has occurred, but it is just a fact.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Deakin will cease interjecting.

The member for Aston and the member for Herbert will cease interjecting, so we can hear the member for Robertson.