Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister pretends to care about power bills, but we all know that the only bloke he really cares about is himself. If there are blackouts this summer, don't worry about the Prime Minister in his harbourside mansion. The champagne is still going be cold, the oysters will be on ice and the pool will probably still be heating. That's because he spent thousands and thousands of dollars putting in his own solar power system. There are reports that it's so big it generates three times as much electricity as is consumed by the average Australian home. Did he get subsidies from the government for this? How much did the taxpayers pay to keep Point Piper pumping?

This Prime Minister just doesn't get it. He's never had to struggle to pay a power bill. He'll never get it, because he can't get it. Today he was asked how much his power bill is and he couldn't answer! There's a reason for this—he's probably never opened the envelope because it's not an issue for him. Regular people can't afford to be as relaxed as the Prime Minister when it comes to their energy bill; while the Prime Minister is sleeping soundly at night, power bills are keeping them up. He is the most out of touch Prime Minister in Australia's history and he'll never understand the issues that Australian families are facing.