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

I thank Senator Sinodinos for his question and I thank him also for his past support for a price on carbon when working with then Prime Minister Howard. I wish someone with his understanding of public policy could put paid to some of the ridiculous propositions such as those we saw from Senator Brandis and as we see consistently from the shadow minister. In relation to the electricity price issue, it is the case that IPART has released its determination, which shows that the impact on electricity prices by the carbon tax is a shade under what the Treasury modelling advice at just over nine per cent—the Treasury estimate was 10 per cent. All of this has been factored into the government's assistance package, including the tax cuts, which the opposition will roll back should they ever win government and which the opposition will roll back because they want people in this country earning under $80,000 per year to pay more tax not less tax.

It is very clear from what the regulator has said that the main reason for rising electricity prices is the billions of dollars being invested in poles and wires for the network. In many Australian states, there have been very substantial increases over past years, which have nothing to do with the carbon price. These increases are all about investment in the network. We know that those opposite—