Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Brandis. On 1 July, EnergyAustralia's electricity prices for the average household in New South Wales went up by nearly 20 per cent, or almost $320 a year. Why then is the government making it harder for pensioners, trying to make ends meet, by cutting the $365 energy supplement?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased you asked me that question, because it enables me to inform the Senate that tomorrow the Prime Minister has actually summoned to Canberra the CEOs of the major energy retailers to ensure that they put in place policies and change their practices to ensure there is downward pressure on electricity prices for Australian consumers. The Turnbull government is reining in the cost of poles and wires. We're putting more gas into the system and implementing the Finkel review recommendations, all of which are designed to put downward pressure on energy prices, particularly electricity prices, and to secure, very importantly, the reliability of supply so that people in Queensland—where you and I come from, Senator Ketter—don't find themselves in the state that people in South Australia found themselves in last year as a result of the ideological policies of the state Labor government.

We know that in some states, in particular the Labor states, electricity prices have increased by up to 20 per cent. That is why the federal government is moving in to take action. Unlike the Australian Labor Party, whether it be the opposition in Canberra or Labor state governments in Queensland and South Australia—

Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, a point of order on relevance: the question was very clearly about the cut to the $365 energy supplement. The minister has gone nowhere near answering that question.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ketter, I'll have to disagree, because your question said, 'why then is the government', and I think the Attorney-General has explained why the government has removed the rebate. If the Attorney-General does not want to go any further, that's up to the Attorney-General, but I think he has been directly relevant to your question.

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So, Senator Ketter, unlike the Labor governments in states like Queensland and South Australia, and unlike Mr Shorten's opposition, we take a practical approach to this problem, not an ideological approach, as the Labor party does.

Honourable senators interjecting—

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order on both sides, on my left and my right! Senator Ketter, a supplementary question?

Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I do. Thank you very much, Mr President. The Prime Minister's answer to increasing power prices is to summon energy executives to a meeting. Given that the Prime Minister's chat with gas exporters resulted in no change to energy prices, why is the Prime Minister pursuing yet another talkfest instead of taking real action to address the cost of energy?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Through you, Mr President: Senator Ketter, because it will be anything but a talkfest. Just as the Prime Minister's meeting with the CEOs of the major gas exporters produced real results, so will the meeting tomorrow, to which he has summoned the CEOs of the energy companies, produce real results. Senator Ketter, I mentioned a moment ago that the Australian Labor Party's approach to energy policy is not based on engineering, not based on pragmatism and not based on the needs on the needs of consumers; it's based on ideology. And perhaps that's the reason, Senator Ketter, why in South Australia, under the government of Premier Weatherill, the lights went out. A state Labor government that can't even keep the power on is in no position to lecture a government that has had a successful energy policy on how to conduct it.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ketter, a final supplementary question.

Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr President. Why is the government's only answer to increasing power prices to cut support to pensioners and talk to those profiting from the cost? Isn't it clear that the government is so divided that its policy paralysis will only continue, with Australians left to suffer under increased prices?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't think, Senator Ketter, you would have asked that question if you had remembered that, during the Labor government, the federal Labor government of Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd, electricity prices increased in Australia by 101 per cent in six years. Senator Ketter, far from policy paralysis, the government has already adopted all bar one of the Finkel report recommendations, and that last recommendation is under consideration. We have already taken action to ensure that there is downward pressure on gas prices. We have already taken action to ensure that there is pressure on the CEOs of the electricity retailers to ensure that the gouging of the system stops. Unlike you, Senator Ketter, this is a government led by a Prime Minister who cares about and understands how to make energy policy work for all Australians. (Time expired)