Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on Senator Dean Smith's MPI today because it is indeed a matter of public importance. The most inconvenient truth that the Labor Party will not acknowledge is that affordable and reliable energy has underpinned our country's prosperity for decades, and that is particularly the case in my home state of Victoria. But the reality that's facing households, small businesses and industries today is stark, because under this government Australians are experiencing an energy price crisis. Not only are record numbers of people struggling to pay their energy bills; we're seeing more frequent threats of blackouts in our grid.

As so often is the case with Labor, they seem to ignore those truths. They're quite happy to have the spin, but there is no substance behind the promises they make. Let me remind you of some of those promises. The most obvious one, made prior to the 2022 election—and it was said over 90 times—was that they would reduce energy prices by $275. Well, we are still waiting. There has been no reduction in energy prices. In fact, it's been quite the opposite. Three years on, that cut is nowhere in sight. Instead, over the first term of an Albanese government, household power bills skyrocketed by more than 40 per cent. Power prices are now up $1,300 more than was promised by this government. Now, that's extraordinary. It's eye-watering.

Almost every business that I walked into over the past three years has listed energy bills as their No. 1 cost pressure. It didn't matter whether it was a butcher, or a cafe or a hairdresser that we were visiting, these small businesses were talking about bills and how they had not increased by small amounts but by an extraordinary amount—thousands of dollars.

The only thing that Labor has delivered is back-to-back hits to household budgets. In fact, between May and June this year, just two months after the election, the national electricity market recorded a 139 per cent surge in the average spot price. Let me say it again: a 139 per cent surge in the average spot price in just two months since the election. The 2025 year-to-date average now sits at 10.6 per cent higher than it did in the same period in 2024. Under the Australian Energy Regulator's default market offer for this year, 2025-26, which came into force on 1 July, residential electricity bills have increased by up to 9.7 per cent, and electricity bills for small businesses are up by 8.5 per cent. That's nowhere near the $275 cut that was promised.

Not only did they promise that prices would come down; they also promised there would be 82 per cent renewables by 2030 and that emissions would be reduced by 43 per cent. Once again, Labor's promise was nothing more than hollow. They are very small on delivery. In fact, the government is nowhere near its 82 per cent target, as experts are forecasting. The most optimistic scenario is that it may reach 65 per cent. But at what cost? Even Labor's own longtime adviser Professor Ross Garnaut has claimed the government will miss its target by 'a big margin'. They are his words, not mine.

When it comes to the 43 per cent emissions reduction target, the Climate Change Authority has calculated we'll need a 15-megatonne reduction annually. Instead, emissions are increasing under Labor. In fact, last year they were around six million tonnes higher than they were under the coalition government. Emissions have gone up under Labor. Don't believe what they're telling you. They have gone up. So it's costing you more and you're getting less for what you are paying.

Labor is recklessly chasing a renewables-at-any-cost price at the expense of the grid, at the expense of families, and at the expense of businesses. It's not working to reduce your emissions. It isn't working for households and businesses who are paying those bills. We need to do more. We need to reduce emissions, don't get me wrong. I believe that, fundamentally. But this is a pathway to destruction. It's not a pathway to prosperity.

I want to finish by reading you a text that I got in the chamber from my mother, who is on a set income. She said: 'I need your help, if not this weekend then soon. I'm sorry to interrupt you while you're in Canberra. In the past my electricity bills have been around the $500 mark. I just got one for $1,500. I am panicked. I don't know what to do. They talk about negotiating around a reasonable price'—I think she means "shopping around"—'but I have no idea how to do that. Can you please help me?' When I said, 'Yes, of course, I'll come home and I will help you this weekend,' she said: 'Thanks. That wretched little twerp Bowen. This is paying for his nonsense and lies.'

That's one customer. Heaven help Australians that are suffering under Labor's energy price crisis.