Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health. Will the minister outline to the House why reliable and affordable energy is crucial for hospitals like Casey Hospital in my electorate of La Trobe and throughout regional Victoria? Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches that will drive up power prices and destabilise the energy market?

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for La Trobe. He's not just a great member for La Trobe and a passionate member for La Trobe, but, before coming to this place, he was a member of the Victoria Police. He was a policeman's policeman. He played senior roles in dealing with both counterterrorism and organised crime. In fact, he was one of the people who kicked in the door and then personally arrested Alphonse Gangitano. So we're not going to be taking any lessons from the people on that side about matters in relation to crime today. One thing is that he has a nose for the truth. As part of that, he said to me that there are two things he knows that matter today. One: Labor loves higher electricity prices. How does he know that? He knows that because Labor voted for a $15 billion electricity tax and he voted against it. How else does he know? Because he voted to abolish a $15 billion electricity tax and every member who was on that side at that time voted to keep it, not just once but on multiple occasions. He also knows that Labor now wants to introduce not a $15 billion electricity tax but a $66 billion electricity tax, which would have a net impact on our families of $300 a year.

But he also knows that it would hurt our hospitals—that their electricity tax would be bad for our hospitals. It would impact their ability to provide for essential services; it would impact their ability to provide for community support—all of the things that you would hope for. And we know this because it's already happening in Victoria. We saw that Victoria's action in deliberately closing down the Hazelwood power station led to a $44 million hit on Victoria's hospitals. The Casey Hospital suffered as a consequence of the Victorian government's actions—Victorian Labor's actions, supported by every member on that side. We know that the Portland Hospital suffered an over $270,000 hit in the member for Wannon's electorate. Echuca hospital, Castlemaine hospital and so many others suffer as a consequence. That's why on this side we are opposed to Labor's massive new electricity tax. The Prime Minister and the energy minister are taking steps to deliver reliable and affordable energy with the National Energy Guarantee. It builds on what we've done by abolishing their electricity tax. It builds on what we've done by abolishing the limited merits review. It builds on what the Prime Minister personally did in fronting the gas companies and forcing them to change the way they were treating Australian consumers. So, at the end of the day, the member for La Trobe is dead right when he says that Labor loves electricity taxes.