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. What is the Albanese Labor government's approach to lowering energy bills after a decade of failed policies? How does this compare with other approaches, and why is it important to be upfront with the Australian people?

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

I thank my honourable friend for her question. Of course, the Albanese government's bill relief starts in one week's time—the $300—on top of the bill relief announced in the budget before last. That's $300 for every single Australian with an energy bill. There's no need to fill in a form and no need to apply. It will apply automatically.

Of course, in the medium and longer term, we know that introducing more of the cheapest form of energy into our energy grid—that is, renewables—is good for bills. That's why we're pleased that renewable energy is up 25 per cent since we came to office. That's 8.5 gigawatts. That plays no small part in the fact that wholesale energy prices, which were $375 a megawatt hour when we came to office, were, in the first quarter of this year, $76 a megawatt hour. This is flowing through, as we saw, in the default market offer.

The honourable member asked me what plans we have rejected and why it's important to be upfront. Well, we saw the release of what we'll call, to be very generous—in the spirit of good will—a policy last week on nuclear energy. We saw the sites released. We saw seven sites for nuclear energy, the owners of six of which have said they don't want a bar of it and five of which are in states where there is a legislated prohibition. So the policy failed at the first hurdle.

The Leader of the Opposition was asked about the cost of his policy. I was watching: 'Here we go. We're going to get the figures, the details of the cost.' This is what the Leader of the Opposition said. 'It will be a big bill, no question about that.' Well, that was the detailed costs that we heard from the opposition: a big bill, no question about that. The question for the Leader of the Opposition is: how does a big bill lead to cheaper energy? He hasn't released that. He's got the most expensive form of energy available. They think they know better than the CSIRO, but they won't release their costs—although the Leader of the National Party let the cat out the bag today. He said: 'We know what they are; we're just not going to tell you,' on 2GB this morning. 'We'll get around to telling you when we choose.'

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

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

Order! Members on my right.

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

What does all this mean for the Australian people? Well, Dr Roger Dargaville, the director of the Monash Energy Institute, has said that the impact could be up to $1,000 a year on household electricity bills from nuclear. The former ACCC chairman Rod Sims said, 'I think it would probably increase household energy costs by well over $1,000 per annum.' But better news for the opposition comes from Dr Dylan McConnell from the University of New South Wales—

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

Order. The member for Deakin will cease interjecting.

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

who had a very different figure. He says there will only be a $400 to $500 impact on energy bills.

The Leader of the Opposition says that the next election will be a referendum on his nuclear plans. Okay; that's fine. If he won't let the Australian people know, they should vote no to his plans. If he won't let the Australian people know, they can vote no, because the Australian people deserve better than the scam they got last week from the Leader of the Opposition. They deserve an energy plan that can work, and that's what this government is delivering.