Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. How is the Albanese Labor government acting to reduce the cost of energy? What other policies would increase the cost of energy?

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 the question. I also thank him for his friendship over the last 17 years. I know the whole House wishes him the best.

The Albanese government is focused on two things: delivering cost-of-living relief today and delivering cheaper energy into the future—and there have been developments on both fronts since the parliament last sat. We are delivering energy bill relief through the budget, and the Treasurer just referred to the inflation figures that were released the week before last. Those figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics also dealt with energy prices and said:

Electricity prices fell 17.9 per cent of the 12 months to August … This is the largest annual fall for Electricity on record.

We also have seen progress in relation to energy prices more broadly. I can tell the House that yesterday wholesale electricity prices were $53.92, compared to $286 on the day we came to office. The shadow Treasurer, the then minister for energy, promised electricity prices at wholesale level of $70 a megawatt hour at the 2019 election. Today they are $53 a megawatt hour. This is what real progress looks like.

The honourable member also asked me what could push prices up. We've also seen developments on that since the House last sat.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

The member for O'Connor is now warned.

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

A couple of weeks ago, we saw the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis release a report on the prospects of nuclear energy for Australia, and it found that electricity bills would rise by $665 a year for a median electricity bill and by more than $1,000 for a family of four. Now, that analysis makes a certain sense when you consider that nuclear is the most expensive form of energy available in the world. So, of course, if you introduce it into Australia, we're going to see energy prices go up.

But there have been other developments. Last night we saw some; we saw about 45 minutes of developments on Four Corners last night. It's a bit unusual for a minister to recommend watching a show about an opposition policy. But I do say to the House, if you didn't see Four Corners last night, it's a cracker. We had 45 minutes of expert after expert talking about nuclear policy. We saw Peter Bradford, a former commissioner of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, say:

What we know about nuclear is that's it's very capable of large disappointments.

…   …   …

If nuclear was a person, it would be weeping with its head in its hands over the Vogtle story in Georgia.

We saw Stephanie Cooke, the former editor of Nuclear Intelligence Weekly, say:

It amazes me that there's so much hype about something that's been such an abject failure in my opinion. I mean, yeah, it's produced electricity, but at what cost?

I recommend that show and I recommend the analysis of the opposition policy—because they can't release the details because the details would show the policy is a dog.