Perin Davey (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Acting Deputy President Fierravanti-Wells, let me reassure you and reassure the chamber that, as a National, I am not hanging my head in shame while standing here speaking to the Treasury Laws Amendment (Prohibiting Energy Market Misconduct) Bill 2019. I'm not hanging my head in shame that our Minister for Agriculture stood here today and said the climate is changing. There is nothing wrong with supporting a cleaner environment across the board. There is nothing wrong with being cleaner, reducing pollution, cleaning up our society, getting rid of plastic waste, getting rid of pollution, to support a cleaner society. But we need balance. We need reliable, affordable power. In the absence of a clear pathway with state support for new, reliable coal-fired power plants, and in the absence of clear support to build the cleanest power available—that being nuclear power—we are tying our own hands.

I also want to address some comments made by Senator Pratt, who supports jobs. I commend her for supporting jobs and supporting transition arrangements between power companies, such as AGL, which are looking to the future when they close down. But what about the jobs in the smelting plants? What about the jobs in our aluminium sector, which relies on absolutely reliable power at an affordable price? If one of those smelting plants loses power for a significant period of time, that shuts down the plant. There is no reopening. That is thousands of jobs lost. So what we on this side of the chamber are trying to do is introduce a mechanism that serves consumers well, that serves the market as well as it can be served, without overburdened regulation. This bill is designed to amend the Competition and Consumer Act to define energy market misconduct, to provide a series of penalties and remedies for companies engaging in misconduct that is prohibited, and to enable us to have a fairer market and better outcomes for consumers and the power market in general.

I commend my colleagues in the Nationals, who have long championed reliable and affordable power—particularly for our rural and regional communities. We have worked hard to achieve greater transparency in the electricity market. The Nationals are not wedded to one type of power over another; it is not coal or bust, and it is not renewables or bust. We will take power from anywhere. We are power agnostic, and proud to be power agnostic. We are proud to be part of a government that invests in renewables at a higher per capita rate than any other nation, and we're also proud to talk about other options such as nuclear power.

We know that the Australian energy market has not been serving consumers well, which is why we directed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to undertake a retail pricing inquiry in March 2017. In undertaking that inquiry, the ACCC identified clear problems in the retail, wholesale and contract markets, labelling the situation unacceptable and unsustainable, and noted that energy retailers have played a major role in poor outcomes for consumers. That is why the Nationals, in coalition government, are working to address those problems identified by the ACCC. That is why, in January, over 458,000 Australian families and 39,000 small businesses received a better deal on their energy prices, thanks to pressure from the coalition government on big energy companies to put customers first by moving them off high-priced standing offers.

On 1 July, this government introduced a default market offer—a cap on standing offer prices, locking in a safety net for around 700,000 Australian families and 110,000 small businesses. Since its introduction, family power bills have come down between $130 and $190 per household per year. We are committed to underwriting new generation investments of all types and implementing a reliability guarantee across the energy market. We will also make competition more effective in energy markets by extending the consumer data right to energy. We will make it difficult for companies to shut down power plants when there is a willing buyer in the market, because that's not fair. That's not fair to our consumers. That's not fair to our energy marketplace.

Market participants in markets that lack competition can be tempted to engage in misconduct, to the detriment of consumers. This new law addresses that issue by specifying three types of electricity market misconduct: failing to pass on sustained and substantial reductions in the cost of electricity, refusing to enter into contracts for the purpose of substantially lessening competition, and distorting or manipulating prices in a way that is fraudulent, dishonest or in bad faith. This new law introduces a range of graduated penalties to apply when the ACCC has identified market misconduct.

While both private and public electricity firms will be subject to the legislation, this bill does not allow for blanket privatisation. The court can order only that a government owned asset be divested to another government owned firm. Many in the energy sector oppose this new legislation, but the government is determined to act to address the misconduct so as to protect consumers, because that's what this is about. This is about consumers. This is about jobs in the consumer market and businesses that need and rely on affordable power. The status quo, in the words of the ACCC, is unacceptable and unsustainable. By introducing this new legislative framework of prohibitions and remedies, the government is determined to improve competition and lower prices across the energy market. Make no mistake: our government, and the Nationals in government, are absolutely committed to fair competition in marketplaces, and where needs be we will take action to ensure it happens. I commend this bill to the chamber.