Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

As I have previously said on many occasions, the government has been upfront in saying that we expect on average a 10 per cent increase in electricity prices—about $3.30 a week. The government is providing very substantial assistance through the tax system, through the family tax benefit system, through pensions and through other assistance to reflect cost increases, including increases in the cost of electricity. It is also true that experts in the electricity sector have made the very important point that one of the things that will lead to greater increases in electricity costs is the opposition demanding that people not buy forward contracts, not hedge their prices, and trying to invoke uncertainty. I refer the opposition to comments for example from the Energy Supply Association, which said that uncertainty such as this is one of the things which lead to increases. (Time expired)