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

My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, yesterday I visited a food manufacturer in the Yarra Valley that has seen its energy bills skyrocket by $200,000 since Labor came to office. This is why Australians are paying more at the checkout. Given that not a cent of the Prime Minister's so-called Energy Bill Relief Fund has gone to a single small business or family, why is Labor ignoring the suffering caused from the ongoing cost-of-living crisis?

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! The Prime Minister will be heard in silence. He has the call.

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

ANESE (—) (): It is, indeed, the one-year anniversary of the member for Hume's decision to hide energy price rises. You acted to hide price rises. We acted to shield families from them. And you voted against it. You voted against shielding families.

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Then why do they keep going up?

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

Order! The member for Deakin will cease interjecting.

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

You voted against shielding small businesses. And Clare Savage, the chair of the Australian Energy Regulator, said this about the DMO: 'It's much lower than where we were fearing it could have been last September-October.'

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Prices are going up, Albo. Get it right.

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

A lot of what we have seen, in the price increases today, has been driven by unreliable coal plants—so outages—and very high fossil fuel prices. So that transition to clean energy is critical to bringing down prices.

Those opposite voted against direct bill relief to those Australians who need it most. They voted against price caps that have already had an impact on price increases. They opposed the safeguard mechanism—their own policy. They took four gigawatts out of the grid and only put one gigawatt back in. They announced 22 energy policies—

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

The member for Fairfax will cease interjecting.

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

and didn't land a single one. And the louder they yell, the more embarrassed they are by their own performance. We, on this side of the House, gave those opposite an opportunity last December to stand not just with the federal Labor government but with the New South Wales Liberal government and vote for lower prices—

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

Order. The Prime Minister will pause. Has the Prime Minister concluded his answer? I give the call—

Opposition members interjecting—

Order! There is far too much noise on my left.

The member for Fairfax. I want to hear from the member for Canberra.