Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Energy. Will the minister update the House on how the government's action to reduce power prices will benefit families and local businesses in my electorate of Bonner and across South-East Queensland? Is the minister aware of any different proposals?

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

I thank the member for Bonner for his question. Under the coalition, reducing power prices isn't merely an aspiration; it's actually a reality. It's actually a reality, because the big three in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia recently reduced their prices.

That is in stark contrast to what happened when the Labor Party were last in office, when power prices doubled and they went up each and every year. This reduction in power prices is good news: good news for the 12,000 small businesses in Longman, good news for the 15,000 small businesses in the seat of Bonner and good news for the 19,000 small businesses in Mayo. If you are a small business in Brisbane, you can see a saving of up to $470 a year. Over one million households across South-East Queensland will actually get a saving now on their power bill as a result of these announcements.

This is a positive set of numbers, and we know that Labor aren't too good at their numbers. They aren't too good at the numbers!

Mr Albanese interjecting—

The member for Grayndler doesn't quite have them! The member for Port Adelaide didn't quite get them. And the member for Lilley, after six budget blowouts, finally got the numbers. He finally got the numbers!

Mr Speaker, I'll tell you about another set of numbers. When Labor was last in office, power prices went up by 101 per cent. Now Labor is promising a 50 per cent reckless Renewable Energy Target and a 45 per cent Emissions Reduction Target, which will only do one thing to your power bills: send them up. Under the coalition you'll always pay less for your power than under the Labor Party. If you're a manufacturer, working in a manufacturing business, the Labor Party don't care about your job. If you're a family, they don't care about your power bill. We have a plan; we have a plan to lower your power bills and to create a more reliable system. This is in stark contrast to the reckless Labor Renewable Energy Target, which will only send power bills up.