Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. On 22 July 2025, the Prime Minister said Australian power bills were being permanently reduced. But Red Energy, Australia's fourth-largest energy retailer, has confirmed it will raise energy prices on Victorian families by over four per cent, hitting over 230,000 Aussies with another power bill increase of around $50. Why does the Prime Minister say things he knows are untrue?

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 the question and congratulate her on her first question in this House. The honourable member—it's her first term, so she wouldn't have been here when the member for Hume hid an energy price rise before the 2022 election. Perhaps that's why the honourable member got the job, because it's a difficult job.

I congratulate the opposition, too, for their temerity on asking about energy matters this week, given the chaos we've seen from honourable members opposite. But the fact of the matter is, on these matters, under this government, we not only have policy but we have transparency. When we have difficult figures, we don't change the law to hide them like the member for Hume did just before the 2022 federal election, which should disqualify him from ministerial office forever!

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

Order. The minister will pause. I can't hear a word. There's too much noise, but I want to hear from the Manager of Opposition Business.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The point of order, unsurprisingly, is on relevance. Question time is at 2 pm every day, but the minister seems unprepared to answer questions today on his own portfolio. The question was about price rises under his government, and he's referring to previous government policy and previous governments over and over.

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

I'm going to send another clear signal—I think you know where this is heading—if anyone is taking a point of order, you don't add extra commentary. You just simply state the point of order without giving any other commentary. That rambling is outside the point of order and the standing orders. Moving forward, we won't be having that, otherwise points of order won't be taken. The minister, while he's at it, can return back to the question. He wasn't asked about alternative policies, but I couldn't hear a word he was saying. It's going to assist everyone if we can listen to what the minister is saying.

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

The honourable member asked about the Prime Minister's comments about permanent energy bill reductions, and I'm very glad she did, because what the Prime Minister was referring to was the permanent energy bill reductions you get when you install a cheaper home battery under the Albanese Labor government's policy; 17,324 households across the country have done it. If you already have solar panels it reduces your bills by $1,100 a year on average, and if you don't have solar panels yet, $2,300 on average, across the country, which is around 90 per cent of the typical bill.

So the Prime Minister was well within his rights to point out not only that it is a policy we took to the election but also that it is a policy we have been implementing and delivering successfully since 1 July, just a few weeks after we received that instruction from the Australian people. We've been getting on with the job and delivering it, and the places that have taken up that offer the most have been the people of the outer suburbs and regions of Australia. They know that what's good for their household is good for the country, and that is the cheapest form of energy available for Australia, and that's renewables.