Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question goes to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer explain to the House why electricity prices have jumped an extraordinary 13 per cent over the past 12 months?

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to be really clear and say that the very last person on earth that I will be lectured by about energy prices is the member for Fairfax. The last people who took the member for Fairfax seriously on energy prices used to sit over there, and now they watch question time from home. That was the madness of the nuclear meltdown that the member for Fairfax was responsible for, and the pure madness of it was that he wanted to waste hundreds of billions of dollars building nuclear reactors that would push energy prices up, not down. We saved the Australian people from his madness.

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

Member for Wannon, I've got this—trust me; I'm sure. The Treasurer wasn't asked about alternative energy sources, but he was asked about prices. He will make sure that he's relating his answer to the question, which was about prices. He can talk about the integers, but not the opposition's policy.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The worst thing for energy prices would be if we went down the path proposed by those opposite, which would have pushed energy prices up, not down.

An opposition member interjecting—

You've already had your go, champ.

An opposition member interjecting—

You have; you've already had a go.

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

We're just going to take a big breath and exhale. The Treasurer will pause for a moment. Member for Wannon—

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I'm worried the Treasurer is defying your ruling—that's what I'm worried about.

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

No, you don't get the chance to just jump up and say what you feel like. I don't know how many times—resume your seat.

Honourable members interjecting—

Everyone's just going to take the temperature down a little bit. To assist the House, I understand where the member for Wannon's coming from. We will make sure the Treasurer is being directly relevant and gets back to topic.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The numbers that we saw today, which I ran through a moment ago, were monthly figures which are often impacted by volatile and one-off factors, and they were in this instance. The biggest influence on the number that the shadow Treasurer mentioned is the timing of the energy bill rebates that we are providing on this side of the House and that those opposite don't want us to provide. That does go to a very important difference: this side of the House providing help with electricity bills; that side of the House trying to prevent it. If they had their way, energy prices would be higher.

Let me give you some numbers in response to the question the shadow Treasurer asked me. Electricity prices in July would have been 7.9 per cent higher without the energy rebates that we are rolling out with our state and territory colleagues. The second point is that—

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

The member for Cook is now warned.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

the timing of rebates in WA, Queensland and Tasmania was the biggest contributor to this volatility. And this is the most important point: if you look at the official quarterly figures, electricity fell 6.2 per cent through the year to the June quarter, but they would have risen 1.7 per cent without our rebates, which was the course that those opposite wanted.

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

The deputy leader will cease interjecting or will remove himself. This is not on. Come on. The Treasurer will now conclude.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Fairfax can have as many nuclear meltdowns as he likes. The truth is we're helping people with electricity bills; you would prefer that we didn't—and that's the difference.