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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-03-19 Daily Xml
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Electricity Prices

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (14:59): My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Is the minister aware of any expected changes to electricity prices for South Australians and how this may affect cost-of-living pressures?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:59): I thank the member for her question and, indeed, the entire chamber, because I do get a lot of questions from members about power prices, and it is fair to say that the cost of living is on the forefront of everyone's mind and I know that the Premier—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I didn't know that saying the cost of living was on the forefront of everyone's mind would be so offensive to people. How would that be offensive? People used to take you seriously.

Mr Teague interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Thank you very much, sir.

Mr Teague: Tell the truth.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir: I would ask him to withdraw and apologise for that.

The SPEAKER: Very well. The member for Heysen, the member for West Torrens has taken offence to the outright suggestion that he is not telling the truth to the chamber. That, of course, could be a matter dealt with alternatively under the standing orders but it hasn't been. The next best course, of course, is to withdraw and apologise. I invite you take that course.

Mr TEAGUE: I withdraw and apologise.

The SPEAKER: Very well. The minister has the call.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Here endeth the lesson. The regulator sets the annual default market offer every year, and the default market offer has indicated that—

Mr Teague interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Heysen is warned!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: My goodness!

Mr Teague: They're just not paying that much attention to you anymore.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: You seem to be paying a lot of attention.

Mr Teague: Do they?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: You. You're just a little bit obsessed. It's a bit scary, a bit creepy.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Teague: I reckon yesterday you jumped the shark.

The SPEAKER: Order! The exchange between the member for Heysen and the member for West Torrens will cease. The minister has the call.

Mr Teague: I reckon he has jumped the shark.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Well, I love debating the former Acting Attorney-General who held the roles and functions of the job but never actually did the job, and I'm happy to debate him any time. I would encourage him to actually have the courage to ask me a question, pretty please.

Mr Teague: Your time will come.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, and I look forward to it. Back to the default market offer: the default market offer is something that the Australian Energy Regulator does every year, and it released a draft this morning. That shows that they intend to cut prices for small businesses by 8.2 per cent. That's nearly a $500 saving for small businesses.

Mr Patterson: After they went up $1,300, so we're still $800 worse off.

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Morphett!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Of course, again my friend the member for Morphett forgets to mention the subsidy that the Treasurer put in place, which was over $600. Now, I know maths is not the strong point for Collingwood players.

Mr Patterson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: What we are seeing is that retail prices are coming down. Wholesale prices have plummeted in South Australia: what you are seeing is the forward price coming down a lot.

Mr Patterson: One quarter. We still had the highest ones over the whole of 2023.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Again, incorrect. I again say to my friend, the member for Morphett, the Australian Energy Regulator publishes reports on market offers throughout the year and they show that our market offers are cheaper than New South Wales, cheaper than the ACT and cheaper than Tasmania. It's a quip jibe to come out and say 'highest prices in Australia,' or 'highest prices in the world'. It's not true; it's just been made up. I've got to say, the thing about making things up is you get caught out. I also heard the member yesterday telling radio that he thought prices were going to go up today. Well, they didn't go up today.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morphett on a point of order.

Mr PATTERSON: I ask the minister to withdraw that. That was never said.

The SPEAKER: Alright.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Patterson: You're making things up like usual—just making it up.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morphett has taken offence. The standard is a subjective one. I invite the minister to withdraw and apologise.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: I withdraw and apologise because the member says he has never said that power prices are going up. Okay, we will check with the house. We all heard it. The shadow energy minister has never said that power prices are going up. I will check. In fact, he is so adamant he has taken offence to it. So, the entire strategy of the opposition now is power prices are not going up. Excellent. Thank you very much to the shadow minister. What a great tactical genius he is—absolutely. So, now, here we are it's clear—

Mr Patterson: No—just making it up.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Oh, now I'm making it up! Everyone just saw you do it.

The SPEAKER: The minister's time has expired and so has question time.

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