Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

McKENZIE () (): My question is to the Prime Minister. Under the government's price increase announced last week, the average Victorian will pay a further 25 per cent more for their energy or $532 more for a residential customer. Why are the Prime Minister's broken promises making things so much worse for middle Australia?

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

I thank the honourable member for her question about the impact of the DMO that was announced last week. The first point to make is that the average Victorian household receives a saving of $555 because of the intervention of this side of the House which the honourable member and all her colleagues voted against. Maybe the honourable member has a view about what brought about that price reduction. Maybe she could help the member for Fairfax, who thinks it's a mystery as to how price increases could turn around and become price decreases for those families that have received the rebates negotiated by the Commonwealth and the states.

The honourable member referred to an announcement by the government last week. A gentle correction for the honourable member: it was an announcement by the Australian Energy Regulator, as she was required to do under the timing prescribed by the law. The law says it shall be made on 25 May or the nearest business day thereafter. That wasn't always the law. It used to be an earlier date. It used to be a date earlier in May, but there was a change last year. That was in a regulation that was promulgated by the then minister for energy—or one of the then ministers for energy—who changed the regulation. It was a very simple regulation: two lines. The change was to substitute the first business day after 25 May. Now, 25 May comes after 21 May, and 21 May was a key date. The then minister for energy did not want the 20 per cent energy price rises to be made public to the Australian people before 21 May because he knew that the Australian people would have a view about that at the ballot box. So, if honourable members opposite are going to ask this side of the House about energy prices, they might want to have a little word with the member for Hume and ask him why he changed the law of this country to hide price rises before the last election. Why did he do that? I think the answer is pretty obvious. It's because he was embarrassed. He was ashamed.

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

The AER recommended it, and you know it!

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

Now he says, 'It wasn't my fault!' He signed the regulation. There are two signatures—

Honourable members interjecting—

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

Order! The minister will pause. Order! The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order?

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

It's on relevance. Australians are hurting at the moment, and this minister is trying to tell them that their power bills are going down when they know that they are going up and up and up.

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

Resume your seat. The Leader of the Opposition has a lot of latitude, but that is an abuse of the standing order. I'm going to bring the minister back to relevance to the question. He is referring to power prices, and I ask him to continue.

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

A DMO was issued last week in accordance with the law—not the law that was changed by this side of the House but the law that was signed by the previous minister. There were only two signatures: his own and the Governor-General's. We don't blame the Governor-General. We blame the previous minister. Now, that is a fact. They hid price rises. They were not honest with the Australian people. We have been clear with the Australian people that energy prices are under pressure around the world. Governments around the world are intervening, including this government, and we're intervening against the wishes of those opposite.

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

To the member for Hume: I did gently remind him before that if he continues to interject he won't be here, which means the MPI won't continue. I can't be any clearer than that. That means no more interjections for the remainder of question time.