Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of my constituents, Ron, wrote to me this morning: 'I just received advice from my electricity supplier, EnergyAustralia. From 1 March my energy bill will rise by an additional $361.51.' The members opposite might not want to listen to Ron about his electricity price going up, even though those opposite said, on 90 occasions, that electricity bills would come down by $275. Those opposite might think they're better than Ron, who, like many pensioners, is fighting rising electricity bills—which just goes to show that the priorities of those opposite are not the priorities of the Australian people. Inflation is eating a giant hole in the budgets of Australian families, and yet the Labor government wants to hide under the covers, and all that those pathetic morsels of government members can do is sit there and hurl abuse. We have a Prime Minister who is hands-off. We have a Treasurer who spent the summer penning 6,000 words of complete drivel and more concerned with what goes on a $5 bill than the spending capacity of Australians who don't have those five dollars. Cost of living is the No. 1 issue facing Australians right now. Australians are crying out for their government to help them with the impacts of inflation, rising interest rates and rising energy prices. Ron is asking what's to be done about increasing energy prices, and all we have from those opposite is crickets.