Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. How will the Albanese Labor government help households with the cost of living through energy bill relief? Have there been any barriers in developing this response?

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question and her leadership on matters of climate and energy. Of course, as the House knows, last year, faced with heightened pressure on energy prices right around the world, we acted.

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You promised $275!

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

The member for Fairfax will cease interjecting or be warned.

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We acted by capping the price of coal and gas. That was controversial then and it's controversial now. The Leader of the Opposition today, just in question time earlier, claimed that capping the price of gas had forced prices up. Maybe the Leader of the Opposition should have gone to the University of Sydney to get an economics degree! Maybe we'd all be better off if that had happened, because he thinks that lower coal and gas prices lead to higher energy prices. But we've done that and it's had an impact. We've seen that impact in the draft Default Market Offer released earlier this year: 29 percentage points lower than it otherwise would have been. As Clare Savage, the Energy Regulator, has made clear, that is in large part due to the impact of the intervention by the Albanese government. That has saved up to $1,676 for a Victorian small business each year. It's saved up to $530 for a household, particularly South Australian households. Of course, we know we need to do more and tonight we will be doing more.

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

Order! The member for Fairfax will withdraw that comment.

Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw.

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The same legislation which enabled that intervention to cap the price of coal and gas enables direct rebates to Australian families and businesses—carefully designed to put downward pressure on inflation by reducing power prices directly, compared to what they would have been. I'm pleased to confirm that 5½ million households and a million businesses will benefit from that action. The Treasurer will, of course, outline more action this evening.

But there's a third element as well. We understand, on this side of the House, that reducing emissions and reducing bills are the same thing. We understand that if you make a house or a business more efficient, you reduce bills as well as emissions, and we happen to think that's a good thing. Call us old fashioned but on this side of the House we think that reducing bills and reducing emissions is a good thing. We know that Australia ranks 58th out of 63 on energy efficiency of households. We can do better. In particular, lower- and middle-income household need that support. So, again, we will see tonight strong action to help households reduce their bills and emissions, particularly for those who need assistance and particularly for small business. We've already announced our tax treatment of energy efficient investments by small business which will benefit hundreds of thousands of small businesses across the country who want to reduce their emissions and reduce their bills, and we're going to help them do it.

Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Under the Prime Minister's cost-of-living crisis, the cost of gas and household fuels is up 14.3 per cent. Tertiary education costs are up 9.7 per cent. Domestic travel costs are up 4.7 per cent. Lifeline says 80 per cent of calls relate to the cost of living. Forty-five per cent of Australians say they are delaying getting their car serviced. The National Youth Mental Health Survey reports cost of living as the biggest concern for young Australians. Why do Australian families always pay more under Labor?

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

Thank you for that very tight question, Member for Lindsay! I enjoyed going to Lindsay during the state election campaign.

Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You didn't tell me you were coming.

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

Indeed, I was there at Penrith. You could've followed the crowd following the new member for Penrith. The new member for Penrith, Karen McKeown, was followed out there.

Government members interjecting—

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

Members on my right, the member for Lindsay is entitled to raise a point of order.

Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The point of order is on relevance. It's Karen McKeown.

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

That is not a point of order, but thank you for your assistance. The Prime Minister will return to the question.

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

I note the member for Penrith is there in the parliament on her first sitting day today, as the first day of the Minns Labor government, and I congratulate all the members who've been elected there. At that press conference the member for Penrith was kind enough to remind me that she was a recruit of the Labor Party many years ago.

I'm asked about the cost of living and about inflation costs, and I remind the member for Lindsay that the March 2022 quarter—you mightn't want to hear it—had the highest inflation of any quarter this century. It was on their watch, and the member for Lindsay doesn't have the same excuse as the member for Flinders, because she was here when that was happening. Those opposite will see tonight a plan to assist vulnerable Australians: as the member for Kingston has just outlined, the plan to help single parents, to make a substantial difference to them; the plans as well that we have to help small business—I note that the Canterbury Bankstown Chamber of Commerce are here in the gallery today, including John Khoury, the chairman of the Bulldogs. Welcome, and I thank the National Rugby League for their endorsement of constitutional recognition for Aboriginal Australians that they, along with other groups in civil society, have announced today.

But we will have support for small business. We will have support for families. We'll have support for those who need health care. We'll have support to lift wages in the aged-care sector. We'll have further support confirmed for child care that comes in on 1 July. We will have a budget that provides support for people who need it whilst not putting pressure on inflation—unlike those opposite, who didn't provide any support for people, except for their mates, and put increased pressure on inflation. That's the contrast. That's why this group here have been elected on good economic management, and that's what we're delivering. (Time expired)