Jamie Chaffey (Parkes, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Was the minister telling the truth when he promised Australians a $275 reduction in their power bills by 2025?

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

We went to the 2022 election with a very clear policy, and we've been implementing that policy. The Australian people endorsed that policy last year, knowing the challenges that we faced in implementing the policy. I note that in New South Wales, in May 2022, the price of energy at a wholesale level was $320 a megawatt hour, and it's now $75 a megawatt hour.

An opposition member: Wholesale!

Those over there say 'wholesale prices'. If wholesale prices don't count, why did the member for Hume promise to make them $70 a megawatt hour? To be fair to him, in full disclosure, he came nowhere near meeting that promise, because when he left office they were $280 a megawatt hour. I note that in New South Wales as well, 77,974 cheaper home batteries have been installed since 1 July, meaning those people have reduced their energy bills by up to 90 per cent, which helps them obviously and helps the entire grid as well, reducing prices for everyone. And it played no small part—

An opposition member: Rich people!

They say 'rich people' when 44 per cent of the cheaper home batteries that have been installed are in regional Australia.

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The point of order is on relevance. It was a very tight question, which the minister refuses to answer.

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

The minister was asked, pretty much, a yes or no question, but, as the member for Page knows, I'm not able to direct him to answer it in the way that he would like. What I can do is make sure he's being directly relevant to the question. He was asked about power bills, and I'm going to make sure he is being directly relevant with the information he is providing to the House. I appreciate that the member for Page would like him to answer it differently, but I cannot deliver on that wish for him today.

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

As well as the question, I was also referring to the interjections from those opposite who said it was rich people who are installing cheaper batteries. Tell that to the questioner in the seat of Parkes, who has 1,547 cheaper home batteries or to the person who took the point of order, the member for Page, who has 2,501 cheaper home batteries in his electorate. Are they rich people? That shows how out of touch those opposite are—those regional MPs opposite. Whether they are Liberals or Nationals or One Nation or prefer not to disclose, they are out of touch with their constituents.

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

The temperature and the interjections were way too high during that answer. I do not want to see a repeat performance of that.