Simon Kennedy (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last weekend I conducted almost 30 listening posts in my electorate, speaking to members from all across my electorate. I had a pensioner who could not pay his energy bill. We introduced him to Wesley Mission, and Wesley Mission paid his bill so that this man could continue to cool and heat his house and continue to cook food. There are pensioners in my electorate forced to make choices no pensioner should have to make—between paying an electricity bill or feeding him and his wife or between paying their car, filling up their car, or seeing family and friends.

It's not just the pensioners. I was recently at FJP Manufacturing. In just two years, their electricity prices have gone up over 70 per cent. Their gas prices are up over 50 per cent. Phill, who runs it there—great guy, works incredibly hard—is a huge supporter of manufacturing in Australia and a huge supporter of trades. He's watched the number of his tradies go from seven to three, and he's worried it's going to zero. He talks about their declining revenues and their increasing costs, and he worries they're going to close that manufacturing plant one day and instead just turn it into another set of apartments. What will we make in this country?

I worry because energy prices are up 40 per cent in just three years. While emissions are down 28 per cent since 2005, energy prices have more than doubled, and it's not surprising. We have a government that is obsessed with emissions targets. They're legislating for 2030; they're setting 2035 and 2050 targets, but where is the price target?

I'll take the interjection. If you're obsessed with the cost of living, where is your energy price target?

See this speech in context