Peter Dutton says he would do a much better job on energy prices.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he hoped the RBA would cut rates, but that alone would not assuage voter anger over the cost of living.
“It’s the price of groceries, and it’s the price of electricity, and the price of gas. All of them are up by Albanese, and the worse thing is that in a Labor-Greens minority government, the prices will go even higher,” he said.
No, they won’t. They will go higher under Peter Dutton.
Without a doubt, Labor has been an energy disaster. Its failure to tackle the East Coast gas export cartel Ukraine War profiteering virtually destroyed the government.
It unleashed a second round of inflation that Australia never had to have and made the cost-of-living crisis much worse than it needed to be.
But, Labor did eventually act to undo much of the damage in electricity, which is 80% of the household energy bill, via rebates.
This will be less comfort to NSW, VIC and SA households and businesses because commodity states added to the rebates and enjoyed falling prices.
The rebates cost $3bn per annum so there is a tax bill to be paid. It’s not a free lunch.
Labor is nearly certain to renew the rebates before the election.
Conversely, Peter Dutton has committed to the removal of the rebates, so unless energy prices collapse, he is automatically embedding a large bill shock.
There is nothing in the Dutton platform that supports collapsing energy prices.
Nuclear is in the never-never. In the meantime, Dutton’s gas-fired recovery plan is to remove the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism and loosen mine approval processes.
Allowing for more development of supply will take many years and won’t work anyway because all reserves are inside the gas export cartel. The ADGSM is the only policy tool that can bring down prices.
Dutton’s gas policies are so bad that they make Albo’s blundering look competent.
LNG imports begin later this year and will double the local gas price as the East Coast gas export cartel reduces supply to drive prices to import parity.
Sending electricity prices mad just as Dutton removes rebates.
The only factor that can stop this is peace in Ukraine. This would benefit Albo’s policies just as much.
Amusingly, the truth is the opposite of Dutton’s claim.
The best energy policy is offered by the Greens, which will ban new large gas projects but also apply East Coast domestic reservation, ensuring cheap local prices and lower electricity bills.
The only energy problem is the gas export cartel, and whoever fixes it wins.
