George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Not only will I not admit it, but it's objectively wrong. In fact, we had the largest reduction in Australian retail power prices early in the life of this government when we abolished the carbon tax, imposed by the last Labor government. We saw the single greatest reduction in electricity prices in recent Australian history. Senator McAllister, frustrate as you do, play politics as you do, but you and your side are standing in the way of further reductions of power prices to Australians by getting in the way of the government legislating to abolish the limited merits review so that electricity retailers and suppliers can no longer game the system. The estimates of the savings to Australian consumers from the abolition or the prohibition of suppliers gaming the system is $3.5 billion, and you're standing in the way of those savings. (Time expired)