Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Acting Deputy President, I foreshadow that I will be moving a second reading amendment. I would urge honourable senators on both sides of the chamber and also my crossbench colleagues to support the amendment for this reason. The carbon tax of course is a factor in electricity price rises. But with all the hyperbole of the debate you would think it was the only cause. We know from independent analysis that, for instance, in the past six years New South Wales households have seen a doubling of household electricity prices and that two-thirds of that increase has been due to network charges. Some of these power companies are making an absolute killing out of consumers and that is why my second reading amendment is simply asking the government to show a leadership role in the Council of Australian Governments to ensure that the national electricity rules are modified and that we give the Australian Energy Regulator sufficient teeth to tackle these network charges. That has been an unnecessary impost on consumers. If we can bring down those prices, it means that we will have more latitude in tackling greenhouse gases and any price effects of that. We should not be handing over windfall profits to power companies if we can have a more efficient mechanism operating in the market.

I have indicated my position. I hope that we can at least have a semblance of a decent committee stage in respect of these bills. I am quietly confident that we will, at least, be able to have a credible alternative that will deliver that conservative approach to greenhouse gases. But we need to have the mechanisms of the CEFC, ARENA and the Climate Change Authority in place to provide an effective bulwark for climate change policies.