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

My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Gallagher. Yesterday in this chamber the minister said:

… we are a government that delivers on our commitments—every single one of them.

Minister, if your government is one that delivers on its commitments, why have you scrapped your promise to reduce electricity prices for Australian families by $275?

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

Thank you, Senator Scarr, for giving me the opportunity to talk about how we are delivering on our commitments to the Australian people. This is a government that, over the last six months, has got to work, from day 1, delivering on all its commitments—including in relation to our Powering Australia plan, which has significant investments to fix the energy mess we inherited after 10 years of denial, delay and dysfunction.

I'm not going to stop explaining to the people of Australia the situation that we inherited—rising inflation, rising interest rates, a budget riddled with debt and deficit, pork barrelling and all the dodgy deals that have gone on. We have started unwinding all of that and responding to that. In the budget, we had significant commitments to getting our Powering Australia plan on the ground. Let's not forget—nine years, 22 failed energy policies. None of them worked. We saw a three-gigawatt decline in dispatchable power; that is under your record. We've got Snowy 2.0 running late. Not one energy policy landed.

In the six months that we've been in charge, we have been investing in our Powering Australia plan. We've had Minister King deliver the supply we need. We've had Minister Bowen, the Treasurer and others dealing with the gas crisis, with the energy increases we've got. And we stand by the fact that renewables are the cheapest form of energy, that they are the cheapest form of power, and that increasing our investment in renewables will decrease energy prices.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Scarr, first supplementary?

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

Minister, yesterday you also said:

… we are not a government that breaks promises.

If that's the case, will electricity prices be $275 lower for Australian households by the time of the next election?

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

We will deliver our Powering Australia plan, which is the promise we took to the Australian people. It was supported by modelling done in 2020 about energy prices in 2025. Our commitment is to deliver the plan we took to the election. That is exactly what we are doing, with our investments we've made in the budget, in the Marinus Link, in renewable energy zones, in offshore wind, in pumped hydro, in community batteries, in solar banks—all of that progressed in our first opportunity through our first budget. That is what a responsible, mature government does. We are delivering on our promises, responding to the economic circumstances of the times, delivering a sustainable and responsible budget and delivering on those election commitments.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Birmingham?

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a matter of direct relevance: Senator Scarr has asked directly about an element of the Powering Australia plan, being the government's commitment to reduce power prices by $275. The minister may be being broadly relevant talking about the plan, but he was asking about a specific element of it. I ask you to draw the minister to be directly relevant.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Birmingham. I advise the Senate that, at the start of this question, there was a broader statement about promises generally. I do believe that the minister is being relevant.

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

We will deliver on our Powering Australia plan, which sets out all of our commitments as an overarching document, and we've made a cracking start of that in the first budget.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Scarr, a second supplementary question?

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

I note the minister has not referred to the magic $275 number. Why won't you just admit that your government does break its promises and that within just a few months has abandoned its election promise to deliver a $275 electricity price reduction for Australian households?

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

The question and the proposition outlined in the question are simply wrong. We are delivering on our Powering Australia plan, and the uncomfortable truth that Senator Scarr is refusing to acknowledge is the chaos and dysfunction that we inherited from you. We are not only delivering on our Powering Australia plan; we are also fixing the mess that they left. We are fixing the mess in the energy markets that you left, where the lights were going to go out and there wasn't enough supply, and the energy price increases that you hid before the election—20 per cent increases.

We are fixing supply and we are working on how we can manage downward pressure on energy prices. We've been upfront with the community about the situation we are facing. At the same time, whilst fixing up all your mess, we're delivering on our commitments. (Time expired)