Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The Heritage Hotel in Dorrigo in my electorate of Cowper has their electricity supply contract due to be renewed next year. They've been informed that the hotel's annual electricity price is set to increase by $25,000, or almost 60 per cent, in 2023. Why are businesses like the Heritage Hotel in Dorrigo having to pay for the Prime Minister's broken promise to cut power prices?

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

I thank the member for Cowper for his question. Indeed, Dorrigo is a great town. He is very privileged to represent such a great local community. You might like to tell the small business, though, that, as a result of the hidden power price increase, power prices for small businesses in New South Wales—according to the release on, of course, 25 May, so I think it's very hard for you to blame this side of the House—were due to go up by 19.7 per cent.

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

The member for Hume will cease interjecting.

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

Over there, when they had a Liberal Party in Western Australia, they were led once by Richard Court, the former WA Liberal Premier, and he's had something to say over the last couple of days. I agree with his comment in which he said that the past decade of national energy policy has been 'a slow-moving train wreck'.