Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I am grateful for the minister's answer, but that brings me back to the question about what modelling, what assessment and what risk analysis were done by the government when it switched from a deferred payment scheme under the old CPRS that we were debating about two years ago this month—and I am sure that Senator Cormann will correct me if I am wrong on that—to what is now being proposed. You have the Electricity Suppliers Association of Australia concerned about it; the Australian Bankers Association disagrees. But you have two state governments who have expressed concerns. Notwithstanding that the Queensland government's interest in this is by virtue of being the owner of generators, if there are price effects, as found in economic modelling done by ACIL Tasman on behalf of the Electricity Suppliers Association of Australia, they are matters that deserve to be considered and rebutted by the government if the government believes them to be wrong. What modelling did the government do when comparing the CPRS and this scheme? What assessment was undertaken in terms of the potential impact on prices in the electricity market?