Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Milne for her question. There is a great deal of community concern about the increases in household electricity prices that we have seen over the last three years. I understand that in many areas prices have increased by more than 40 per cent, and that is obviously concerning to people faced with those costs, particularly people on fixed incomes, pensioners and other low-income earners. In my own state of Western Australia there has been a huge debate about this. People are very concerned by those rising electricity prices.

On 7 August, the Prime Minister sought to bring attention to some of the issues that exist in the industry and to concern that things such as potential overinvestment in network infrastructure or the pricing around electricity by state governments may have seen consumers paying more than they needed to.

In terms of the carbon price, the federal government made sure that the household assistance was more than adequate to cover any increases driven by the carbon price. But the ongoing increases in electricity prices are concerning. The Prime Minister, in asking states to bring possible remedies to the next COAG meeting, is trying to seriously address what is a major concern for families and households in Australia. While the implication in the senator's question was rather negative, I think that is not a bad starting point to try to focus on what we can do better to try to keep electricity prices down while maintaining a sustainable system. And, hopefully, COAG will make a step in that direction. (Time expired)