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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-09-10 Daily Xml
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ENERGY PRICES

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite) (17:21): That's ridiculous.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: It is because you haven't read the report—it's embarrassing. Do your job.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: He can answer the question however he likes, but he hasn't answered it. My question is again to the Minister for Energy. Are flaws in the regulatory regime, designed by state and federal Labor governments, the cause of the 132 per cent increase in power prices since 2002, as confirmed in the Productivity Commission's report titled 'Electricity Network Regulatory Frameworks', dated April 2013? How does he reconcile that flawed regulatory framework with the fact that AGL recorded a net profit after tax of $598 million and Origin Energy posted a profit of $760 million?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (17:22): I never thought I'd hear a Liberal member of parliament get up and criticise a company for making a profit. I never thought the day would come that a publicly listed company would be criticised for making money for its shareholders. Those are the depths that they will go to: attacking their own constituency.

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Hang on. While you are washing your hands of this feat—

Mr Hamilton-Smith: The testosterone's up here and the IQ's down there, I'm afraid.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: While you are washing your hands of privatisation, and while you are failing to say that all the regulatory impacts are because of regulations set up by Labor governments, I will point out to you that, from 2002 to 2007, who was the federal minister for energy? Who was it? Can't remember? Of course, it was Mr Ian Macfarlane.

It seems to me that the member opposite doesn't understand electricity pricing in this country. He does not understand how it works and does not understand its impacts. We are at the mercy of private companies because our assets were sold from underneath us. Tom Playford looks down at you disapprovingly because you sold what he built and you sold it based on a lie, which is even worse. Now, you have the temerity to turn up and blame us.

The SPEAKER: Minister, that's quite enough, for a variety of reasons which I won't enumerate. Member for Waite.

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