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

I move:

That this House:

(1) condemns the Government for its failures regarding energy affordability and policy transparency; and

(2) notes that:

(a) Australians were promised a $275 cut to their power bills but under the Government households are instead paying on average $1,300 more;

(b) energy bills have already surged close to 40 per cent under the Government;

(c) the Government has broken its most basic promise to the Australian people; and

(d) the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water advised the Minister for Climate Change and Energy within the Incoming Government Brief of 'a further significant increase in retail electricity prices next financial year'.

It's incredibly important that we debate this motion because it goes to the heart of whether governments should look the Australian people in the eye and tell them something which is 100 per cent completely untrue, and that is what Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen did. They said to the Australian people that they would reduce their power bills by $275 by the end of this year. Now, who thinks that that in any way is going to be achieved? It's not going to be achieved, and the energy minister should face up to the Australian people and say, 'I looked you in the eye, I said I would do this, and now it is clear that I cannot do it.' He should admit that he has 100 per cent, completely failed. As a matter of fact, what we've seen through the last CPI data last week is that the complete opposite is occurring. That complete opposite is hurting Australian households, hurting individuals and hurting industry.

We sadly saw this when it comes to Tomago. Now, 5,000 jobs are at risk because the government cannot get its energy policy right. Can I say this: it's not only that they didn't get the $275 right. The Minister for Climate Change and Energy received an incoming minister's brief in May which said that energy prices are going to rise. It said they will continue to increase. And now we have the minister not wanting to release that incoming ministerial brief and taking the absurd measure of trying to stop it being released by saying to the Senate, 'I'm going to defy your orders.' He's defying the Senate to stop it getting released. Why do you think the minister doesn't want that brief released? To start with, the bit he did release had so many bits of paper that looked like that—100 per cent blank—it wasn't funny.

Why do you think the minister is trying to prevent that ministerial brief being released? I have a suspicion. I think it says that gas prices but in particular electricity prices are going to continue to double under this government. I think that's what it says. If it doesn't say that, I look forward to the minister releasing the fully redacted brief in its entirety and saying, 'No, it doesn't say that.' But, if he won't, then, given that prices have doubled under them, why wouldn't it say they will double again? The policies haven't changed at all. They're not focused on energy affordability as their No. 1 priority at all. As a matter of fact, the minister has spent the last three months trying to get the next COP here in Australia rather than prioritising energy affordability. I say this to the Australian people: energy affordability will be the opposition's No. 1 priority because we know how important it is to our nation.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Ash Ambihaipahar (Barton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As someone who's worked on the frontline of community support at St Vincent de Paul Society and someone deeply connected to the people of Barton, I see firsthand the pressures that Australians are carrying. Right now, the cost of living is the No. 1 concern for Australians and across the globe. We on this side of the chamber are not ignorant to the energy bills being high, and we are fixing this energy bin fire that we inherited from those opposite. Those opposite left Australians with an energy system that was fragile, outdated and vulnerable to global shocks. They walked away from renewable investment and refused to build a modern grid. And now, as history repeats itself, those opposite stand here pretending they have a plan. Let's be clear. Their plan is nuclear energy—the most expensive, slowest, riskiest and least pragmatic option available—a plan that will do nothing to help families here in Australia. The truth is simple. In times like these, people don't need slogans. They don't need a scare campaign. We are addressing the cost of electricity across all levels, such as with retail reforms to make sure Australians get the best possible deal and making sure more Australians can bring down the bills for good with more access to rooftop solar and cheaper home batteries, as well as better energy efficiency options.

The Australian people need a government—a steady one, a practical one, a responsible one—on their side and that is what this Albanese Labor government is delivering. While those across the chamber point their fingers, we on this side of the chamber are getting on with the job. Since 2022, the wholesale electricity prices are coming down. The independent Australian Energy Market Commission forecast that prices will decline to 2030 as more renewables enter the grid. This is something we are proud of and is important also for our large-scale consumers like manufacturers and smelters.

From next year, the Australian Energy Market Commission will implement new rules that will stop sneaky price hikes, preventing retailers from increasing prices more than once a year. We know electricity retailers are the primary buyers of the Australian wholesale electricity market, purchasing power from generators and reselling it to households and businesses. The new rules will also prevent customers from being charged more than the standing offer price if their initial low-cost offer changes or expires. Furthermore, there will be a ban on excessive retailer charges like late payment fees for all retail contracts and will ensure all consumers will be entitled to a fee-free payment method. The new rules will ensure vulnerable Australians are receiving the best offer from their retailer, placing a stronger onus on retailers to assist hardship customers.

While the Albanese Labor government has taken strong action to provide energy bill relief to Australian households and businesses, those opposite have opposed this relief at every step. We have provided three rounds of energy bill relief to homes and small businesses to take that sting out of the bills, while doing the overall reform work to bring down bills for good. We also acted to cap coal and gas prices, shielding Aussies from the worst of the global energy crisis.

Recent ACCC data shows some 80 per cent of households could be paying less on a different deal. The government's energy.gov.au website and the AER's Energy Made Easy website can help bill payers find their cheapest plan. For the people that came to Vinnie's and needed assistance with their electricity bills, the main thing that the Vinnie's team members did was look at their electricity plan to see if the person was on the cheapest plan available. Like many other amazing organisations, like the Salvos and Mission Australia, organisations like these have been advocating to ensure people are getting the best electricity deal possible. So rather than the member for Wannon submitting motions as such, how about advocating for constituents on seeking reviews of energy plans and guiding them to get the support they need.

Australians deserve a government that shows up every single day. They deserve leadership that recognises that energy is not just about power bills; it's absolutely about dignity, opportunity and security. They deserve a government that listens, works tirelessly and takes responsibility. This Labor government does exactly that. We are lowering the bills, modernising our grid, protecting our consumers and absolutely building a better future where Australians can rely on clean affordable energy.

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very happy to support the member for Wannon on this fine motion. I remember well, Deputy Speaker Georganas, as I'm sure you do and others here, the lead-up to the 2022 election when then leader of the opposition—now prime minister—very successfully won a mandate on electricity prices. It was a very important conversation that he brought into the national narrative, and I believe very much it was a change he did want to see. Australians were hurting, he was hearing it, his members were hearing it on the government benches at the time and we were hearing it. This was an important conversation. Electricity prices were rising and looked like they would rise for some time. We needed change on that front. When the Prime Minister went and said, 'I am going to reduce energy prices by $275,' on 97 occasions, this was not dipping his toe in the water of this subject; this was a prime minister seeking a mandate to drive down electricity prices in this country, and he won that mandate.

Sadly, what we've seen since then is a complete policy failure, where energy prices have not gone down by $275. In fact, they've gone up on average by more than $1,300 around the nation. This is a spectacular policy fail. In my heart, genuinely, I hope the Prime Minister can turn this around, because I have constituents like Tom, who owns the National Hotel in Toowoomba, who regularly reaches out to me. He has provided me with his most recent energy bill, once again showing that, over the last two years, the energy costs for him to run his hotel have doubled. This is a point that he describes as breaking point. These costs continue to rise. At one point in his career, he said, these were costs that you just absorbed and that you understood would be there. Now he makes key decisions on future investments on the basis of his electricity costs, they have risen so much. They are rising in businesses; they are rising in homes. And if we are all honest here, we are all hearing this. The electricity bill that arrives in your letterbox, in your email, those prices are going up, and Australians are feeling it and we're hurting.

I'm not the first to have raised this. I acknowledge other members in this place, including you, Deputy Speaker Sharkie, have talked about integrity as being a key part. I think the key step here is for the government to acknowledge that they have failed on the mandate they sought. They have not delivered cheaper energy prices. We are seeing that discussion now being realised around the country. Just last week, the AFRI'm going to quote them. They're talking about the recent inflation figures. They said: 'Other factors, including the sharp nine per cent jump in electricity prices, have played a part. This is partly due to the winding up of the energy rebate payments in three states, and now foreshadows the expected financial squeeze when the federal government's $150 cost-of-living power bill handout expires in December. Fundamentally, this reflects the structural reality that the renewable energy transition is expensive.'

That was in the AFR. So not only have the government failed during the last 3½ or four years, they have also set us up for further increases. We know that. We know that the minister has received a brief from his department saying exactly that. That's what is to be expected. Nothing has changed. Nothing has changed structurally. Our power bills have gone up, and they will continue to go up—that is the trajectory that we find ourselves on.

I want to raise how this failure to manage our economy and the impact of electricity prices is spreading right across Australia. We see today a press release from the AMA. The press release is about—it's titled 'Bulk Billing changes miss the mark'. It's showing how the changes the government is proposing or making to bulk-billing will not affect bulk-billing rates. I'm going to read a quote from the press release, because it points out something very important to this debate. It says:

"We are … frustrated that Minister Butler has repeatedly boasted that GP appointments will be 'free' under the program and that patients will 'only need their Medicare card, not their credit card'.

"We have had many practices tell us that this is simply not true because the changes will not cover … staff, rent, electricity, consumables, insurance and other costs—

which are all going up. The rising costs of electricity are playing out across our economy. This is not just in small businesses or big businesses or home; now we're seeing the AMA talking about the impact that it's having on GPs as well. Everyone is feeling the rising pressure of these costs. The government should, first, own up that they have failed and then, second, lay out a clear plan on how they are going to drive down these costs. That is what they said they would do for the Australian people, and they have absolutely failed to do so.

Claire Clutterham (Sturt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This motion does state the obvious: energy bills are expensive. They place significant pressure on household budgets, and we all know this needs to change. The complexity is that this change must happen in parallel with one of the greatest industrial transformations in the last century, the shift away from dirty, unreliable and ageing coal to renewable energy. The change is happening, and we all accept it needs to be a just and fair transition, executed in a way that protects jobs, protects the environment and lays a sustainable foundation. This is a hugely complex undertaking.

Effort is required from all layers of government—federal, state and local. Effort is required from business and industry. And effort is required from individual Australians. In my state of South Australia and in my electorate of Sturt, this effort is bearing fruit. More than 1,600 households have taken advantage of the Albanese Labor government's cheaper home batteries scheme. We are second in the country. This program is helping these households reduce electricity bills by making the most of cheap and clean solar power, by storing it for when it is needed. But it doesn't just help 1,600 households; it lowers costs for everyone by reducing peak demand and creating a more stable electricity grid.

In South Australia though, we get frustrated because on a typical day 80 per cent of our energy is generated by renewables. As I prepared these remarks yesterday, the Australian Energy Market Operator fuel mix dashboard showed that 88 per cent of South Australia's energy was being generated by wind. The average spot price at that time was $42.62 per megawatt hour, lower than in all the other states for which data was available—Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania. I'm not going to stand here today and say that the data means that energy bills in South Australia are cheap, because on average they are not and more work is required in that respect. But the data illustrated that the renewables-dominated fuel mix in my state resulted in a lower spot price per megawatt hour. These results that I've just relayed to this chamber are based on evidence based data produced by the Australian Energy Market Operator. They're based not on guesswork or speculation but on data, and data and science are what governments need to focus on.

That's what this government focuses on, and that is why we are pursuing the transition to renewable energy. It's not a strategy driven by ideology; it's driven by data. Imagine if data and science were accepted by all sides of politics. We could then embark on a bipartisan transition that is just and fair to workers, to the environment and to all Australians. Imagine what the results of that combined effort could be. Instead, climate science, also underpinned by data, is being ignored. When constituents in my electorate of Sturt talk to me about the climate, which they do very often because Sturt is an electorate that cares deeply about the just and fair transition, I find myself unable to explain why some voices in politics are still calling for a repeal of net zero, still denying the science of climate change and still refusing to accept that we can have a just and fair transition if we have bipartisanship.

The science tells us that the eventual extent of global warming is proportional to the total amount of carbon dioxide that human activities add to the atmosphere. So, in order to stabilise climate change, carbon dioxide emissions need to fall to zero. The longer it takes to do so, the more the climate will change. Carbon dioxide is just one of the greenhouse gases emitted when we burn fossil fuels. Emissions of other greenhouse gases, such as methane, which has a more intense warming effect in the atmosphere, also need to be constrained.

Everyone in politics wants the following things for Australians and for our country: cheaper energy bills; food security underpinned by quality healthy food; meaningful well-paid jobs; good and sustained levels of public, physical and mental health; healthier air; a functioning and effective hospital system; revitalised and sustainable biodiversity; and a beautiful, clean and supported Australian environment to enjoy forever. So, by all means, question the government and hold us to account, but stop denying the data and stop equivocating. Join us and have a say in the just and fair transition. A majority of Australian voters asked you to.

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

Reliable, affordable, sustainable—that is what we should be driving at when developing Australia's national energy policy. We absolutely need to have an emissions reduction plan, and, in fact, the coalition has got a strong history of preparing that since the Shergold review during the Howard coalition government. But it can't be at any cost or at a timeline that's unrealistic and puts households and industry at a significant disadvantage. Labor and the teals would have you believe that the energy transition Australia is confronting is simple, cheap and easy. It's not. It's actually complex, complicated and at a cost. That's what we've got to work our way through in a sensible, pragmatic manner. We need to make sure that we've got all technology available and on the table. That includes carbon capture and storage, nuclear and other options.

Australia at the moment is an outlier to the rest of the world: Canada, the United States, Japan, China, India, the eurozone and New Zealand. Chris Bowen seems to know something that the rest of the world doesn't, and that is because they are confronting those three key challenges of reliability, affordability and sustainability. I fear the teals are making a lot of this worse in spooking state governments. We've seen it in New South Wales, where Penny Sharpe, the energy minister there, is effectively using government funding to get Origin to keep its Eraring power station open for longer than its natural life. We've also seen it in Victoria, where our once-four, now-three coal-fired power stations—looking at Yallourn, for example, owned by EnergyAustralia—are still providing 22 per cent of Victoria's baseload electricity. Yallourn is set to close in the next three years. All of those coal-fired power stations will come to the end of their natural engineering life at some point, but the Victorian government have been able to come up with a clear, sensible way forward to replace, effectively, 22 per cent of our baseload electricity within those next three years.

I also have real concerns that the burden for most of this transition is being put on regional Australia. We all want to pay our fair share. We all want to contribute our fair share of responsibility. Right now I'm speaking with farmers across my electorate, from South Gippsland and Bass Coast to West Gippsland, where we have the best soil of anywhere in Australia. We are proud to grow, make and manufacture things. About 23 per cent of the nation's dairy output comes from the Gippsland region, and about 26 per cent of Victoria's beef production comes from the Gippsland region. We are proud to provide that produce but we are unfairly being asked to shoulder all of that burden. For example, there are a number of offshore wind proposals off the coast that would have transmission lines going through some of that prime agricultural farmland to Darnum in West Gippsland. We grow great horticultural produce and dairy produce there. They are looking down the barrel of a huge battery energy storage project that those neighbouring farms don't want. Victorian Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio is riding roughshod over those local communities.

I want to commend the effort of my state parliamentary colleague, the member for Narracan, Wayne Farnham, who has stood shoulder to shoulder with that farming community. We've met with the local residents. We've heard the concerns, and I am imploring the Victorian state government to take those concerns seriously and to listen to our regional communities. We cannot shoulder all of that burden.

The cost of energy is going up. This government promised a $275 cut to Australians' energy bills no less than 97 times; we're yet to see it. Energy is one of the drivers of inflation in this country, and we've just seen inflation go up to 3.2 per cent, which is outside the RBA recommended band of two to three per cent. You only need to look at Philip Lowe, the former RBA governor, and his remarks about inflation being a 'homegrown problem'. We're dealing with government overspend, but we also need to look at other areas like energy that are having a direct impact on inflation. Households and families in my electorate are bearing that burden.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the next member, I'll give a little reminder to the Chamber for those speaking to refer to members of parliament by their title and not by their name.

Tom French (Moore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those opposites certainly have short memories, don't they? I rise to oppose this motion by the member for Wannon. Before I came to this place, I worked as an electrician. My work on the tools taught me a lesson I value to this day: you can't keep patching over faults and expect the system to hold. The truth is simple. A decade of delay and denial under those opposite left Australians with a broken energy system that was outdated, unreliable and far too expensive to run. So let's be clear: Labor is cleaning up their mess.

For 10 years, the coalition refused to listen to experts. They blocked investment and they allowed ageing coal stations to be run into the ground. Now, they have the gall to lecture this parliament about affordability. It was their neglect that made power unreliable and left households exposed to global shocks. Since coming to office, this government has taken action at every level to fix what the coalition broke. We delivered three rounds of direct energy bill relief for homes and small businesses—relief those opposite voted against every single time. We've acted to cap coal and gas prices, shielding Australians from the worst of the global energy crisis. And we're reforming the market itself. This includes new rules that ban sneaky price hikes, late payment fees and card surcharges and that force retailers to put hardship customers on their best available offer. That's real reform that makes a difference to the lives of everyday Australians, like people in my electorate of Moore.

We're helping bring their power prices down for good. We're expanding access to rooftop solar and cheaper home batteries. We're investing in energy efficient homes and we're building a modern renewable grid that doesn't rely on expensive, unreliable coal. And the results are coming through. According to the Australian Energy Regulator, wholesale prices have been falling since late 2020 thanks to increased renewables and government action. The Australian Energy Market Commission projects that prices will decline through to 2030 as more clean energy enters the grid. And the Australian Energy Market Operator confirmed that renewable power—firmed with storage and backed by gas—is the lowest way to keep the lights on. In other words, the experts agree: renewables are the cheapest form of new energy, even when you include storage and transmission.

Recent research by Griffith University's Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research backs that up. They found that electricity costs today would be as much as 50 per cent higher if Australia had relied solely on coal and gas instead of pursuing renewables. Their modelling found that, across every major region, a grid based on renewables and storage is 30 to 50 per cent cheaper than the 'what if' scenario where we stuck with coal and gas. So let's be clear: investing in renewables isn't just about emissions; it's about economics. It's a smart way to deliver cheaper, cleaner and more reliable energy for the long term.

Yet the member for Wannon still wants to take us down the nuclear fantasy path. That is the most expensive, the slowest and the riskiest energy option on the table. As an electrician, I can tell you this much: no household will see cheaper bills from a reactor that doesn't even exist.

Australians know who's actually doing the work to make energy fairer and more affordable. It's this government, cutting bills now, rebuilding what the coalition broke and making the system fair again. So, instead of finger-pointing, the opposition might consider apologising for the decade of dysfunction that landed us here in the first place. This motion is pure theatre—all heat and no light. It ignores the facts, the data and the progress being made. It underestimates Australians' intelligence and their lived reality. And that's insulting.

Labor has a plan, backed by experts, backed by industry and built for the future, to deliver cheaper, cleaner and more reliable power to every Australian household. That's what we're doing. We're getting on with the job, and that's why I oppose this motion.

Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The issue at hand is energy or, rather, the lack of affordable, stable energy and its brutal role in driving our cost-of-living crisis. The kitchen table debate in Fowler is no longer about saving $5 on a power bill. It's about paying for the power bill or putting food on the table. It's about a government whose energy policy has become less about practical engineering and economic stability and more about ideological virtue signalling.

When the Reserve Bank released its most recent figures, warning signs were flashing red. Annual headline inflation has jumped to 3.2 per cent. This is not abstract economics; this is a tax on every working family. And what is the single biggest contributing factor to this fight? It's the energy sector. The data confirms that households are spending a devastating 33.9 per cent more on electricity than they were just a year ago. A 33.9 per cent price hike on an essential service is not inflation. It's economic sabotage, inflicted by a chaotic market and poor planning.

But the pain doesn't stop at the power meter. The energy shock travels straight down the supply chain and lands with crushing weight in the shopping trolley. Food manufacturers are telling us that their gas and energy costs have soared by more than 50 per cent over the last three years.

Do you know who pays for the costs when the manufacturer, the truck driver and the local supermarket pass it on? It's the battlers of Western Sydney and the families of Fowler. The price of milk, the price of bread and the price of fresh vegetables—these are all now inflated by the soaring price of keeping the lights on. It's unacceptable that, in a country blessed with abundant resources, we are forcing low-to-middle-income families to choose between heating their homes and feeding their children. Right now, energy pricing feels like a lottery. On Monday, the spot price is low; by Wednesday afternoon, it's sky-high. On Thursday at lunchtime, it can even go negative. Businesses can't budget like this. Small business can't plan like this. The manufacturers certainly can't invest like this.

The volatility and opacity of the market are costing Australians dearly. How did we get there? There are three hard truths. First, we broke a working system and replaced it with an expensive one. For most of our history, electricity was treated as essential public infrastructure. Communities like Tamworth led in the 1880s with first electric lighting system. Later, states built integrated systems that were boring, reliable and cheap. In the 1990s, we split those utilities into dozens of generators, a handful of network monopolies and a thicket of retailers. We were promised competition and lower prices. What we got was complexity, marketing overheads and bills that outpace inflation year after year. Productivity fell even as managers and sales teams multiplied, and every new cost found its way onto the bill.

Second, the rules reward margin over merit. Wholesale prices have fallen sharply from the 2022 peak, yet retail bills barely budged. Why? Because the highest cost generator of electricity sets the price for everyone, because gas, now getting more expensive, often sets the price even when the market goes negative, meaning electricity is running for free through the network. Households don't see the benefit. The system is not built to deliver the lowest cost to consumers; it's built to preserve margins in the middle.

Third, high energy costs are hollowing our industry. Cheap, reliable power once offset high labour costs—not anymore. Electricity and gas input costs have risen dramatically since 2000. When glass furnaces go cold, when fertiliser production winds back and when local plastics and chemicals shut, those are not isolated headlines; they are markets heading for deindustrialisation, fewer skilled jobs and weaker supply chains.

Australians are tired of finger-pointing. They want actions that cut bills and restore stability. Here are some practical agenda in parliament that we should adopt: make east coast gas work for Australians and put in place a durable domestic reservation and transparent wholesale benchmarks so gas cannot be exported at the expense of households and industry. When gas sets the marginal price, the whole marketplace brings that marginal price down. Mandate retail transparency and passthrough. Require automatic passthrough of wholesale falls, including negative price events, onto standing and market offers. Publish on a single page the breakdowns of every bill—energy, networks, schemes, retail costs and profit. If a retailer can't explain a bill plainly, they shouldn't be selling it. Modernise tariffs for the solar era: create ultralow daytime tariffs to soak up majority of midday solar glut so that households can charge hot water systems, EVs and batteries between 10 am and 3 pm. Retire legacy off-peak, night-only thinking. That is no longer much how the grid actually operates.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next day of sitting.