Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Fremantle for his question and I thank him for his support of our energy relief package. He knows that the best way of expressing support for our energy relief package is to vote for it, which is apparently a novel concept for those opposite, who had a different way of showing their support—by voting against it. That was their preferred approach.

Of course the budget last night did two things. It provided immediate relief for Australian families and businesses and also set us up for our renewable energy future. We provided that relief in a couple of ways. There are the energy rebates that the Treasurer negotiated with his state and territory colleagues, which provide very important support for families and businesses. Five million households and one million businesses will receive that very vital support, which of course comes on top of the relief provided by our coal and gas caps, which we put on in December. These have led to either smaller increases or, in some cases, reductions in energy bills around the country in various states. This is because of this government's action, which was opposed by those opposite.

The other thing we did last night was introduce a new package—the household energy savings plan—because we on this side know that reducing emissions and reducing bills are the same thing. We understand that. They don't get it. Every time they interject they show they don't get it. The Australian people sent them a memo last May, but the memo was returned to sender. They still don't understand that actually helping Australian households become more energy efficient—

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