Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Kieran, who runs Hutch and Co cafe in Lilydale, a small business in my electorate of Casey, is bracing for the cafe's power bill to increase by $2,438 this year. The Prime Minister promised Australians like Kieran that he would cut their power bills by $275. Why has the Prime Minister misled the Australian people? Isn't this yet another broken promise by this tricky Prime Minister?

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

I thank the member for Casey for his question about Kieran, a constituent in his electorate, and I hope he can tell Kieran that the parliament sat last December and passed a significant plan. We passed a plan for a cap on gas prices. The New South Wales parliament and the Queensland administration also put in place price caps on coal. The RBA, the IMF, AEMO and AGL have all confirmed that our plan is working and has made a difference. The energy price relief plan is something the member for Casey came in here and voted against. As of 3 February, wholesale electricity forward prices were nearly of half that in November, and that is in spite of the opposition of those opposite. I hope he tells Kieran he's sorry that he voted against energy price relief, because they vote against everything over there, don't have any constructive ideas and are apparently unaware that there has been this international spike because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Apparently that hasn't happened and hasn't had an impact. Well, it has had an impact right around the world, and we're dealing with practical measures, unlike those opposite—who, unlike their Liberal and National counterparts in New South Wales and indeed in Queensland, chose to just say no.