Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Sovereign Capability) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Given the Prime Minister's broken promise that households would be $275 better off on their power bills by 2025, and with families now being smashed by higher electricity prices under this government, on what exact date will retail electricity prices actually fall—or was the $275 promise never going to be delivered?

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 his question. The government's been very clear: wholesale prices are one of the inputs to retail prices. There are other impacts on retail prices as well, but they are also the element of final retail prices that government policies have the most influence on. That's a good thing because we've seen them fall by 44 per cent just in the last quarter. We saw wholesale prices in Queensland in May 2022 of $347 per megawatt hour. You know what they are today? They are $58 per megawatt hour. We're going to see, increasingly, that sort of impact if we keep the policy settings in place that see more of the cheapest, most reliable form of energy penetrate our energy system. We will see it continue to flow through to wholesale prices and retail prices, and we'll also see continued reforms—

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

The member for Page is warned.

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

like Solar Sharer, which will see three hours of free power for those Australians who choose to take it up as a right; we think that's a good thing. We've also made other reforms to the default market offer to ensure that sneaky price rises are not legal and that customers are on the best possible deal.

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

The member for Cowper is warned.

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

That's what good reform looks like. Those opposite gave Australia 10 years of denial, delay and dysfunction, and they're certainly keeping it up—particularly the dysfunction side of it.