Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

A lot can be achieved over a cup of tea. I would have thought Senator Cameron would acknowledge and know that. What was achieved yesterday was recognition that a significant proportion of Australians have had energy contracts lapse into a phase where they are getting a raw deal. As a result of the action taken by the Prime Minister yesterday, all customers who are on expired discounts will be contacted and informed about how they can save money on a better deal.

There'll be requirements for all companies to come back to the government and the ACCC to inform us about what they are doing to get families onto a better deal and how many families remain on those expired arrangements. There'll be new plain-English fact sheets to help people better navigate the energy retail market. There'll be a change to energy rules, requiring companies in future to inform customers when their discount benefits end and set out the dollar impact if they do nothing. There'll be new rules to ensure families on hardship programs will not lose any benefit or discount for late payments. These are real actions making a real difference to Australian families. (Time expired)