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

My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, at a national address on 5 April here in Canberra you promised Australian households and businesses you would cut their power bills by $275 a year. Prime Minister, have you apologised to Australians for your broken promise, one you have refused to repeat since the election?

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

I thank the member for his question and for his ongoing interest in my speeches. I thank him very much. He referred to a speech prior to the election, I believe. He has a great deal of interest in what happened to energy prices prior to the election. On 21 May 2022, which will be a date familiar to those opposite—a day when the Australian people rejected the coalition—the gas price was $34.75 a gigajoule. During the previous term, the former government on 15 September released its much vaunted plan for a gas-fired recovery. Remember that? It was a plan that would reset the east coast gas market and deliver lower prices. That was on 15 September 2020. They said that they were going to have lower prices. On 21 May the price of gas was $34.75. They were going to decrease prices. How much do you think prices were when they made that commitment? They surely must have been substantially higher than $34.75, because they were going to reduce prices, to lower prices.

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

The Prime Minister will pause for a moment, and I'll hear from 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

On relevance: in question time previously you've directed a minister to be relevant to the question where the minister has strayed and begun talking about the record of the former government. That's what we've seen from the Prime Minister. He needs to come back to the question about his promise to reduce power prices by $275.

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

The question was about power prices and the Prime Minister's commitments, and I'm bringing him back to the question.

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

It is absolutely relevant what was happening to the price of gas prior to the election, because on 15 September 2020 gas prices weren't higher than $34.75. They were $4.20 per gigajoule. So they were $4.20 per gigajoule. They said it would result in lower prices, and on election day it was $34.75 per gigajoule. That was after their so-called gas-fired recovery which would reset lower prices. It's no wonder that the only person who has ever said, 'Great job, Angus; Well done, Angus,' is the shadow Treasurer, who was responsible for this debacle.

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

Order! The Prime Minister's time has concluded.