Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

The former minister hid the increases in energy prices before the election, because he didn't want that to come out. But, when what we had inherited became clear, we started, on day one, going around and fixing the mess that we inherited, including by delivering on our commitments that were included in the Powering Australia plan, which Senator Hughes outlined in her question. So, yes, we are delivering on that, but we are also dealing with what we inherited with the war in Ukraine and the mess that we inherited from those opposite. The modelling that was done in the Powering Australia plan was done in 2019 to reflect the situation in 2025—from memory. We are dealing with right here, right now, with the circumstances that we inherited. The reality is that renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy and that, if you put more investment and get more renewable energy into the grid, it will moderate the increases in electricity prices. That is a fact, and that is accepted by everybody except those opposite in this place, which is exactly why we inherited the mess we did when we came to government, because you had your head in the sand for a decade. (Time expired)