Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I am very happy to respond directly. What I would say to the member is that perhaps, instead of trying to summarise what I have said, he should actually read what I have said. I refer him to recent speeches I have given on the subject of electricity. I refer him to the last answer I gave where I said very clearly that we need to have a truthful and full debate about what is happening in electricity generation. If he is under any doubt about what is happening in electricity generation, then I suggest that he has a discussion with the member for Groom because, as I have indicated, the member for Groom, from his statements the day before the election, is actually onto it—he actually understands it. He understands that, in trying to create an image in people’s minds that there are somehow policy settings of no price rises versus pricing carbon, that is a figment of people’s imagination and that we are dealing with rising energy prices. We have had underinvestment. In the words of the member for Groom—and I quote them again: ‘Power prices are set to double over the next five to seven years irrespective of who is in government.’ These are his words, not mine, dealing with the reality of electricity generation and the need to expand capacity to make up for underinvestment.

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