Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Moreton for the question. When the government announced the carbon price package last year, we were upfront about the modest impact of the carbon price on electricity prices—$3.30 a week for the average household, an average increase of up to 10 per cent. We were upfront about it. It is a modest impost compared with the massive increases in electricity prices around Australia in recent years. They are increases that have nothing to do with carbon pricing; they are mainly driven by investments in poles and wires. They are increases from which the state governments are reaping dividends. These are the figures. In New South Wales in the last three years, power has gone up by 55 per cent; in Victoria, 37 per cent; in Queensland, 39 per cent; in South Australia, 43 per cent; and in Western Australia, under the Barnett government, a whopping 57 per cent, or $552 a household. As prices have skyrocketed in New South Wales, the O'Farrell government has been happily accepting hundreds of millions of dollars from households when they pay their electricity bills. Last year the O'Farrell government took in $640 million in dividends, and it is forecasting over a billion dollars in dividends paid by householders through their electricity bills for next year.

All of that has happened without as much as a bo-peep from the Leader of the Opposition. All that has gone on, with not a word from the Leader of the Opposition—a 55 per cent increase in power bills in his home state of New South Wales and a billion dollars taken in dividends next year. That is all fine, not worth a word. But a much smaller increase which is offset by an average of $10.10 a week in cash assistance to households that comes from carbon pricing is unimaginable! It is beyond human conception, that increase of 10 per cent! It is the wrecking ball! It is the death of industries! It is the cobra strike! It is the python squeeze! It is the end of the world—a 10 per cent increase, $3.30 a household, matched by $10.10 a week in assistance. But a 55 per cent increase in New South Wales and billions ripped off New South Wales householders by the O'Farrell government is just like cuddling a teddy bear! That is nothing! That is not worth a word from the Leader of the Opposition, who has nothing to say about the rest of the price rises around this country. This is the only government that is helping people with rising electricity prices. From today the schoolkids bonus starts being paid, and it makes a difference. (Time expired)

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