Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

The short answer is no. Our government understands that energy prices are, in fact, a very serious issue for households and for businesses, and it is why our No. 1 priority is delivering cost-of-living relief, and that includes cost-of-living relief that is targeted towards costs associated with electricity. So every Australian household is receiving $300 in energy bill relief. The truth is that the alternative plan, the plan put forward by the coalition, is a plan that would absolutely guarantee higher prices for those households.

Now, in the medium term there is work to be done because over the last decade there were 22 failed energy policies, none of which landed, that saw gigawatts of electricity leaving the system, and that dispatchable capacity was not replaced. And so, on coming to government, our policies have been aimed at stabilising that system and restoring confidence from investors so that we can actually see investment resume in the kind of electricity system that we know offers the least-cost option for consumers in the future. That, of course, is a reliable renewable plan. It does mean that wholesale energy prices are now considerably lower than when the coalition left office, and over the medium term it will mean that the Albanese government's plan is the only plan that will continue to see those prices delivered for consumers.

Now, the coalition has of course taken a different approach. They voted against energy price relief. They want to wind back the rebate that's going out to Australian families and businesses right now and, as you know, they're advocating for nuclear energy. That will add hundreds to Australian bills but will supply less than four per cent of the energy that households and businesses need.