Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's not often during taking note of answers that I would say that I agree with those opposite, but I have to admit Senator Ketter made some very important points. Yes, lower prices. Of course lower energy prices are a priority of any energy policy, but most particularly they are the priority of the coalition's policy. And, yes, investor certainty is a priority in energy policy, and it certainly is the priority of the coalition's energy policy. Other than that, Senator Ketter, I feel that your narrative was entirely untethered from the truth, because I cannot see what the Labor Party's energy policy has to do with either of those two priorities—lower prices or investor certainty.

What seems to have been forgotten in this conversation is that wholesale energy prices have in fact already fallen quite significantly over the last 12 months, and that is entirely due to the coalition's energy policy, of which the National Energy Guarantee, which we were discussing today, is only one part. The National Electricity Market spot price fell to $68 last week, compared to $101 last week. On average, spot prices have come down 25 per cent in the last 12 months alone. In fact, future contracts for electricity in 2020 are at the moment being traded around the $50-per-megawatt-hour range. Already there have been significant inroads.

Why have there been significant inroads? Gas prices have fallen dramatically. Why have gas prices fallen dramatically? The ACCC has confirmed that they are down 50 per cent since February 2007 largely because of the Prime Minister's intervention in the gas market to secure the domestic gas supply. We have also abolished the hideous, insidious limited merits review introduced by the Gillard government, which added $6.5 billion to power bills since 2005. Customers have been getting a much better deal out of retailers since the Prime Minister's meeting with retailers in August 2017. In the last 12 months alone, 1.6 million households have been offered better power deals from their retailers. More than half a million households have moved off either their default plans or their expired plans, and another 1.3 million households have switched to get better deals after prompting from the retailers themselves. These are all coalition policies to reduce power prices. The NEG is just one part of the coalition's comprehensive plan to help out consumers, to help out households and to help out businesses with their costs of living and their costs of doing business.

The National Energy Guarantee has six significant features: it lowers prices; it increases reliability; it reduces emissions; it is technology neutral, most importantly; it is recommended by experts; and it is backed by business and consumer groups. So let's not assume that the ignorance of those opposite is emblematic of the population at large. However, we will for the sake of clarity explain just how the NEG works. It increases investment by dealing with policy uncertainty. More investment equals more supply, which equals lower power prices and, as Senator Ketter correctly said, $550 for households and a 20 per cent wholesale decrease for business. That's $550 for households has absolutely nothing to do with any Labor policy ever; it is entirely due to the National Energy Guarantee and the modelling and forecasting that is associated with that.

It increases reliability. For each National Electricity Market state, AEMO has assessed supply and demand over the next 10 years. That's how it confirms reliability. After that, retailers are required to provide their share of dispatchable power in the event of any gap that AEMO identifies. But, most importantly for those opposite, it also adheres to our emissions targets as agreed to in the Paris Agreement. It adheres to our international commitment. The federal government has set a 26 per cent target with emissions intensity decreasing from 0.7 per cent in 2020-21 to 0.6 per cent in 2029-30, and there will be a review in 2024. What is their alternative? There is no alternative. A vote for Labor is a vote for higher power prices; a vote for the coalition is a vote for lower prices.