Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) | Hansard source

Thank you. The government's focus, the Albanese government's focus, has been to put downward pressure on energy prices, including the energy bill relief that will flow to five million Australians winter bills in the next little while.

Our support for energy upgrades and energy efficiency is that gas in fact does have a role to play as we transition to a net zero economy. It is not federal policy to ban gas connections, but we do acknowledge that states and territories also are implementing their plans around their transition to net zero as well, and that this is a question that really should be asked of the Victorian government. But I can certainly stand here and answer the steps that we are taking. We are mindful. We know that energy prices are hitting households. That's exactly why we took the action we did in December last year. We got ahead of it.

Again, let's not forget, when we came into government, we had an energy crisis on our hands that Minister Bowen was dealing with from day one. He had to stabilise energy markets, to manage it, to work across energy providers and other stakeholders and do the work that, frankly, should have been done by those opposite in the 10 years they were in government.