Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. As we've seen from today's job data, our commitment to jobs and growth is not a slogan; it's an outcome—strong jobs growth, with 325,600 jobs in the last 12 months. But to maintain that strong growth, Australians need affordable and reliable electricity. What we have seen is Labor Party policies drive prices up. They've gone up over the last 18 months or so because of the closure of a big base load power station in Hazelwood and, above all, the high price of gas. We know, too, that the coalition's policy of abolishing the carbon tax brought prices down. Coalition policies have brought prices down, and the inherited consequence of the Labor Party's mistakes—particularly with respect to gas and particularly by overlooking the pretty obvious fact that the wind doesn't blow all the time and the sun doesn't shine all the time—is that we have seen a dramatic rise in prices. But we are taking action in the medium term, the long term and right now, and we've seen gas prices start to come down because of our foreshadowed limitations on exports.

I want to talk about what we've done to help families with their bills today. I want to talk about the way we brought in the electricity retailers and said to them: 'We know that two million of your customers, at least, are paying more than they need to for electricity. What are you going to do about it? You owe an obligation to them.' We said to those big energy bosses, 'You've got to look after your customers and let them know—

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