Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

Let me say right up front what I said last week: I hold Jennifer Westacott in very high regard, and the Business Council of Australia is a very important organisation. But let me also remind the Senate of my answer to the previous question, which pointed out that this legislation that we are putting forward is designed to strengthen the government's ability to address misconduct in the electricity markets. The proposed court-ordered divestiture powers would relate to a corporation's conduct where that conduct is fraudulent, dishonest or in bad faith for the purpose of distorting or manipulating prices and where the order results in a net public benefit. So I would throw the question back to you: do you believe it's unreasonable for the government to give itself the power and authority to deal with conduct which is fraudulent, dishonest or in bad faith for the purpose of distorting or manipulating prices and where the order results in a net public benefit?

Clearly, our objective here is to bring electricity prices down as part of a suite of measures. We're on the side of families and businesses. We're on the side of making sure that we have the lowest possible electricity prices and reliable energy supplies. We believe that this, as part of a suite of measures, is one of the tools that the government should have available, subject to appropriate checks and balances and procedural safeguards which, after the consultation has taken place, are now of course a feature of this bill. In the end, Labor will have to form a judgement on whether they want to stand on the side of this sort of conduct or whether they want to side with us to address it more effectively.