Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Energy. Will the minister please update the House on how the government will help bring down electricity prices, and how would a different approach to economic management drive up power prices, including in my electorate of Petrie?

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Minister for Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Petrie for his question. He knows that this government has a balanced and sensible approach to providing affordable, reliable electricity to all Australian small businesses and families, including in his electorate of Petrie. Several weeks ago, I visited the member's home state of Queensland, where I met Curtis and Chelsea, who own a fitness business, Flex Fitness, that uses a lot of electricity to keep their clients cool. Recently in Queensland, they saw their electricity bill go from $500 to $2,000 a quarter—times four. Curtis and Chelsea are paying for Queensland Labor's $2 billion electricity tax that is slugging Queenslanders to fix their budget blowout, because Labor governments prefer higher electricity prices, whereas we on this side of the parliament prefer lower ones.

The big energy companies have been forced to provide a better deal on energy prices, thanks to pressure from this government. Our actions have ensured that half a million Australian families will be getting a better deal from 1 January. AGL, EnergyAustralia, Origin, Alinta Energy and Lumo Energy, along with others, have heard the government's calls and have cut prices to customers on standing offers by up to 15 per cent, or up to $560 per annum for a typical residential customer.

Meanwhile, those opposite have announced that they will oppose our big-stick legislation, before they've even seen it—legislation that will hold the big energy companies to account, because the 'big three' energy companies have been taking record profits in recent years. In the last four financial years their profits grew by $1.15 billion per annum. I will remind those opposite that these companies are providing essential services to all Australians and their profits are partly coming through sneaky late payments, price gouging and loyalty taxes.

Worse than that, those opposite want to impose their reckless 45 per cent emissions reduction target on the entire economy and they haven't yet explained what that means for farmers and for truckies and tradies, who are going to be facing new, draconian vehicle-emissions standards, or what it means for manufacturers, who have been doing it tough. We stand for lower electricity prices, while we keep the lights on.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The government's proposed divestment legislation was rejected by the ACCC and has been slammed by energy experts, legal experts, business experts and economists as putting upward pressure on prices, as being bad ideologically and as being unconstitutional. Why won't the Prime Minister abandon this discredited legislation and instead work with Labor to deliver the National Energy Guarantee, which the Prime Minister has previously said would deliver lower power prices?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Once again, the leader of the Labor Party is seeking to mislead the Australian people. Labor's plan, which we will not support under any circumstances, is to have a 45 per cent emissions reduction target. They can dress it up in whatever language they like, they can call it a NEG or whatever they like, but Labor's policy is to have a 45 per cent, job-destroying, economy-crushing emissions reduction target that will rob from the Australian economy. The leader of the Labor Party needs to come clean. He needs to tell those industries around Australia which will be the first to close. Will it be—as the member for Flynn knows—the aluminium smelter at Boyne Island? Will it be that? Will it be farmers? Will it be the Portland aluminium smelter, down in the member for Wannon's electorate?

The leader of the Labor Party is pulling a big con on the Australian people. Their five-point plan is tax, tax, tax, tax and tax. That is what the Labor Party stands for, and one of the biggest taxes they are proposing is an electricity tax, with their 45 per cent emissions reduction target. It's a reckless figure. It will cost Australians jobs and the leader of the Labor Party will have to be accountable for it when he goes to the next election. We on this side of the House will not support an emissions reduction target as reckless as that. It is a carbon tax on steroids. I'll ask the Treasurer to add to the answer.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On that side of the House, Labor is on the side of energy companies. On this side of the House, we're on the side of consumers. Let's face it: the energy market has not been serving consumers well. This is what the ACCC has said about the energy companies—that retailers have:

… played a major role in poor outcomes for consumers.

That is what the ACCC said. In the wholesale market, the ACCC has found a lack of competition has resulted in higher prices. When it comes to the retail market, they say that the energy companies have been using deliberately confusing discounting strategies, using excessively high benchmarks and complex offer structures.

The Liberal and National government is addressing these problems with our plans for a new default market offer, with our plans to underwrite new generation investment capacity, with our plans for a reliability guarantee, and with our plans for new powers to respond to misconduct in the energy sector. We are on the side of Australian families and businesses.