Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, congratulations on your elevation. My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, during the campaign, Labor promised a $275 decrease in household power bills. Will the Prime Minister guarantee to the House that Australian families will see that $275 cut?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hume for his question and I congratulate him on his courage in asking it! The paradox of the last government was that they were obsessed with power, but they totally failed on energy. Australian families are paying the price for that failure. Let's have a look at what happened opposite when it came to power prices.

An opposition member: Answer the question.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was asked about power prices—okay, place your point of order.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are only a short time in the question, so I will call the Leader of the Opposition if this is on relevance, but I will listen carefully. What is the point of order?

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's on relevance. We spent yesterday with you talking about the standards within this place. It's very clear that, in the words of Speaker Smith, given the tightness of this question, the Prime Minister needs to answer the question and restrict himself to the question.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. The question was specific, and it mentioned 'during the campaign'. The Prime Minister is in order, and I will listen carefully to what he is saying. If you want a different answer, you'll have to ask a different question. I will call the Prime Minister, but I will be listening carefully.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And I will go directly to the campaign and what happened, because this is what happened, and this is what we didn't know was what happening while the campaign was on. But they knew. They knew about the price increase in March. What we know is that one of the previous government's final acts was to hide that energy prices would be going up in July. They were advised in March that the default market offer price—for a household in New South Wales it increased by up to 19.7 per cent, and in Queensland it was by up to 12.8 per cent. They knew about it in March, but days before the election was called, they made a conscious decision to keep the information from Australians until after the election. And who might that have been? Who might that have been? That was the member for Hume, because the member for Hume was the actual minister at the time.

What we will do is deliver an energy policy. It'll be the first one we've had in this country for a decade. They had 22 announcements and didn't deliver one.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister will just take his seat for a moment. We've already had one point of order on relevance. I will call the Manager of Opposition Business. I'll give you the call.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am just making the point that he is defying your rule, Mr Speaker.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Everyone just be quiet for one second. Manager, we've had the point of order. What is your point of order?

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You need to bring the Prime Minister to comply with your ruling; he is defying your ruling—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No; there is no point of order. I call the Prime Minister.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was asked about the energy crisis, and I was asked about what happened during the campaign. What happened during the campaign was that we promised an energy policy—just one. And we will deliver it. We will deliver it through our Powering Australia Plan. Those opposite had 22 announcements and didn't deliver one. Even when the NEG, the National Energy Guarantee, went through the Liberal party room twice—it went through the Liberal party room twice!—instead of implementing the policy they just rolled their leader.