Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Australian Energy Regulator Chair Clare Savage has said the number of households facing bill stress will rise over the next few years as customers are slugged with rapidly increasing electricity costs. What is the government's plan to deal with rising electricity costs?

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Our plan to help people with energy costs is to implement our energy policies. That's what we're going to do. The previous government promised energy prices of $70 a megawatt hour. If you want to talk about energy prices, we'll talk about it all day. I'm free till 7.30. I think the Prime Minister's up for it as well by all indications, and we're very happy to keep debating this. We're very happy to keep explaining our plans. We're very happy to keep pointing out the decade of denial and delay on the other side and the dishonesty of the previous Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction.

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

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting.

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We're very happy about this, because the Energy Regulator is pointing out the pressures and strains in the system. She's pointed out that our traditional energy sources are becoming more unreliable. She's made that very clear. She made that very clear today in the Australian Financial Review, and she said this:

Leaning into the transition and getting the investment in place is the best thing we can do for consumers.

Guess what? That's what we're doing—leaning into the transition, getting the investment in place. That's what we were doing last week in a place called Tasmania, which is a state which exists under Liberal Party management. That's where we were, making those announcements with the Tasmanian government, working with governments across Australia. And we have another meeting of energy ministers on Friday where we will also be working to implement our policies in close cooperation with the states and territories, because we're getting on with the job of fixing a decade of denial and delay, which you should apologise for.