Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury, at times some of the hottest and coldest places in the country, the rising cost of energy bills is hurting. Only last month we saw electricity bills rise by as much as 20 per cent. This hurts families and businesses. Families are already struggling with the lowest wages growth we've seen, under this lot. It's a double-edged sword for businesses because people have less disposable income, and now their overheads in keeping the lights and the fridges on are skyrocketing.

So what's the government's answer? Bills will be easier to read! That's the big thing that came out of their crisis meeting yesterday. The only crisis we're seeing here is a crisis of leadership from the Prime Minister, cowed by the large energy companies. Surely having easy-to-read bills, being able to switch plans and not lose your discount if you are a day late paying a bill are just basic consumer protections that we should be able to take for granted.

The government's delusional if it thinks this is going to solve our energy crisis. It needs to change what drives those prices. Fact 1: under this government, wholesale electricity prices have doubled, and that's why everyone's bills are higher. Fact 2: large coal plants have closed in a chaotic way, in a policy vacuum, hurting workers. Therefore, fact 3, we don't generate enough electricity. Until the industry know what the rules are, they can't make investment commitments. As the Business Council says, business as usual is no longer an option. (Time expired)

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