Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Emergency Management) | Hansard source

As I indicated in my response to your primary question, I don't have the terms of reference for the panel here with me. I will say this: there is a power of work underway to deal with the many legacy issues that arise from a decade of neglect and dysfunction under the previous government. Some of that—I know this will be of interest to you, Senator Van—is the recently released information from the Australian Energy Market Commission about the approach to smart meter roll-outs. I think you have asked me on a number of occasions about how that is going to be handled. The new rule in particular includes some very important customer safeguards, including protecting customers from potential cost risks by prohibiting any upfront costs ahead of a smart-meter installation and, particularly importantly, introducing new explicit informed consent and notification requirements ahead of tariff changes. (Time expired)