Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We heard it here, we heard it there, we heard it everywhere in the election campaign. I'm talking about the commitment from the now Prime Minister Albanese for a reduction in power prices of $275. What do we hear now? Nothing, not a whisper, not a whimper, not a peep, not a peekaboo. And guess why? Because prices are going up and they are going up astronomically. That commitment has been kicked to the curb. We have seen the Australian Bureau of Statistics say that in Brisbane and the south-east corner of Queensland alone, prices went up by more than 30 per cent in just the March quarter. A recent Queensland Competition Authority report says that retail customers of Ergon Energy, who just happens to provide electricity north of Gympie for most of regional Queensland, Tariff 11 will pay $1,926 a year for power, an increase of $429, or 28.7 per cent.

What's the big solution from the Palaszczuk government? They are going to spend $14 billion on a pumped hydro system at Borumba, a 40-gig dam at the moment which provides—guess what?—drinking water and irrigation water to deliver 2,000 megawatts for a grand capacity of 24 hours—just 24 hours.That is extraordinary—$14 billion for 24 hours of capacity. God help Queenslanders if it rains, the monsoon comes down, there's a cyclone or it stops blowing, because there will be no power and there will be blackouts.