Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Fawcett for that question—a question of real importance to Australian households and businesses and an issue that directly affects them. That's why the Turnbull government is taking decisive action to support Australian families and Australian businesses with their electricity bills. It's why our action has included reforms that are guaranteeing and seeing power companies provide better deals to their consumers, securing domestic gas supply for Australia, and putting downward pressure on network costs to stop the gaming of the energy markets by network operators.

And, of course, we are now proposing, and have been proposing, much more than that through the adoption of the National Energy Guarantee, as recommended by the Energy Security Board. That will help ensure an end to energy subsidies that are passed on to consumers by way of higher consumer prices. It will create a more level playing field that ensures all types of energy are part of Australia's energy mix and are treated fairly according to their reliability, their affordability and their contribution to emissions; it will provide more certainty for investors, which in turn will lead to more supply and in turn lower prices; and it will reduce volatility, ensuring that reliable energy sources provide power when it's needed.

Together, all of these reforms—reforms that tackle energy supply, energy distribution and energy retailing—are a comprehensive package of measures that the Turnbull government has driven to make sure that Australian households and Australian businesses can have reliable and affordable energy whilst also ensuring that, as a country, we continue to meet our international obligations. What that will mean is that, over the long term, Australian businesses and Australian households can have confidence that when they switch the lights on the lights will go on, that when the bill comes in it will be more affordable, and that they can invest with confidence to create more jobs for more Australians.