Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Corangamite for her hard work in trying to drive down energy prices, because in Victoria they have the second highest prices in the country. In Victoria they cheered on the Labor government in the closure of Hazelwood. In Victoria, AEMO have indicated that there could be up to a 43 per cent chance of load shedding. That is a result of the Labor government in Victoria not putting lower power prices at the top of the priority list.

In contrast, the coalition government have been doing exactly that. We've intervened in the gas market to get more gas available to Australians before it goes offshore. We've abolished the ability of the networks to game the system, which will save Australian customers billions of dollars. We have secured a better deal for Australian households, as they've moved on to better market offers from the more expensive standing offers.

Our plan is working. The wholesale cost of electricity is down around 25 per cent this year, with the price last week at $68 a megawatt hour compared to $101 a megawatt hour at the same time the year before. On 1 July, power bills came down in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. And hopefully they will go down in Victoria when they do their re-setting in January of next year. This is saving households and businesses hundreds of dollars as well.

The National Energy Guarantee will consolidate this progress with the average Australian household seeing their bill come down by around $550 from the National Energy Guarantee and the other activities we have underway. The wholesale price will come down by about 20 per cent, which could be worth millions of dollars to energy intensive customers.

You don't have to take my word for it. Listen to what the Queensland chamber of industry and commerce, representing 400,000 plus Queensland small business owners, said:

At the end of the day, the National Energy Guarantee promises what we've all been waiting for—a downward pressure on electricity prices and policy certainty.

BHP, the biggest user of power in South Australia, said, 'We expect the guarantee will result in lower power prices'. The Business Council of Australia, representing thousands of millions of workers in various forms across the country, said, 'It's a practical, workable solution that prioritises reliable and affordable power. The NEG is a game changer and has the full support of business'. The Farmers' Federation said, 'Support from the National Energy Guarantee is a support for certainty. Our message is pretty simple, we want some policy certainty, for us it is the best game in town'.

While the Labor Party will accelerate the closure of coal-fired power stations—the Labor Party are obsessed with emissions—we are focused on prices and reliability. The National Energy Guarantee will do exactly that.

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