Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

SCARR (—) (): Senator Reynolds, I'll give you a call as well next time I'm in Tasmania!

In the lead-up to the last federal election Labor made a promise, and I'll quote it. This is from Labor's Powering Australia policy. It says Labor:

… will cut power bills for families and businesses by $275 a year for homes by 2025, compared to today.

That was the promise. This week, when Treasurer Jim Chalmers MP, the member for Rankin, was asked, 'Where did the $275 appear in the budget?' he said, 'Yep, it's in the budget,' and then he had to say, 'I misheard the question,' about the $275. That's because the $275 was not in the budget. In fact, the position is worse. Not only will power prices not go down $275 for each household but page 57 of the budget says:

Treasury has assumed retail electricity prices will increase by an average of 20 per cent nationally in late 2022, contributing to higher forecast—

inflation—

Given forward wholesale contract prices for electricity remain elevated, retail electricity prices are expected to rise by a further 30 per cent in 2023–24.

Where's the $275 promise?

The electors of Queensland didn't miss here. In the lead-up to the election, they heard the Labor Party promise a $275 decrease in power prices. They didn't mishear that promise, but what they find in the budget is that Labor has not kept its promise. In fact, electricity prices will go up under Labor. They're going up, they're not going down—another broken Labor promise.