Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Labor Minister for Energy in Western Australia, Bill Johnston, when describing the cost of charging up his EV, said, 'Yes, but remember: electricity is almost free.' The Labor Party is very much out of touch on this; this is a Labor minister for energy saying this—electricity is almost free! Minister Johnston is very out of touch, and this Labor government in Canberra is out of touch about the sheer budget pressure that Australian households and families are under when it comes to increasing costs.

Electricity is one of those key items. The mortgage cost increases are much more significant—I understand that—and there is also the pressure of rising interest rates, which, again, this government has done nothing about. They've done nothing about putting any downward pressure on inflation. In his speech, Senator Ayres started talking about deflation—there's not even any downward pressure on inflation, not that we want to get anywhere near deflation—but this budget did nothing to put any downward pressure on inflation. In fact, as I have said and according to Chris Richardson—one of the most respected economists in this country—it actually puts upward pressure on interest rates through the increase in spending that's contained within it.

To get back to the bill, we do need to see more transparency and a consolidated place where all Australians can see and understand what is happening in the energy markets. There is great change happening in the energy markets—there's no doubt about that—and a lot of those changes have been a factor in the massive energy costs that we have seen. This bill is only fair to the people of Australia and to the small businesses of Australia, particularly the small businesses of Australia that do have high energy needs. There are small IGAs and supermarkets in my home state of Western Australia and right across Australia that, because of their freezers and because they stay open 24/7, have extraordinarily high energy costs—in the tens of thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars. Those are the businesses that are under extraordinary pressure, and in shedding light on the situation as we move forward with the further changes to the energy grid that are foreshadowed we need to provide as much transparency and openness to the market as we possibly can. Why anyone would oppose this bill is beyond me, and I commend it to the chamber.