TRACY GRIMSHAW:
We’ve put up with soaring power prices year after year and Australians are sick of paying through the nose for an essential household service. Families are going without heating in winter and air-conditioning in summer.
Well, the Prime Minister has called the big electricity providers to account on making discounts more available. I spoke with him a short time ago.
Prime Minister, thanks for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Great to be here.
TRACY GRIMSHAW:
You say that another million Australians will be offered cheaper power after your meeting today. You’re placing a lot of faith in discounts offered by retailers who keep ratcheting up the price.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, what they’ve done is made a commitment to contact those, another million Australian families, so that will be two million in total, who are paying more for their electricity than they need to and drawing to their attention that they are basically not on the right plan.
But you know anyone can help themselves. If they go to the government’s website, EnergyMadeEasy.gov.au, they put in a bit of information about your bill and you will see all of the comparative offers.
People are regularly getting 20 and 25 per cent savings. So that’s $4-5-600 a year savings by doing that.
So my determination, Tracy, is to do everything I can to ensure that no Australian families are paying more for their electricity than they need to.
TRACY GRIMSHAW:
If I'm in business and I am being crippled, almost sent broke by escalating power prices or even if I'm at home and I'm afraid to turn the heater on this cold winter, wouldn't you think I have already looked into the best possible deal I can get?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, you'd be amazed - a lot of people don't. You know, a lot of people are very busy, they're running around after the kids, they're busy at work. You know they've got a lot on and they don't check that.
I mean, frankly, inertia, people's unwillingness to change is the best friend of the retailers and they are the people that are paying the highest prices.
So what we’re doing is we're getting the retailers - they have committed to this, at our request, and we are going to make this the law, by the way - they are going to have to advise people when they are coming to the end of a plan that they will pay more if they don't renew the plan, or move onto another one, they just go onto the standard offer. And so we are going to do everything we can, Tracy, to ensure that Australian families are not paying any more for their electricity than they need to.
And two million families will have the opportunity now to get cheaper electricity thanks to the actions of my government.
TRACY GRIMSHAW:
Electricity prices have exploded in the past year. Are you satisfied that those increases are justified?
PRIME MINISTER:
We are concerned about a number of aspects of it, in particular, retailers' margins and the ACCC, which is the competition consumer watchdog, it's doing an investigation into that at the moment.
But the biggest single factor prices that has pushed up electricity prices in very recent times has been the price of gas and what I've done is take very strong action to restrict gas exports from the east coast of Australia and that has already started to bring the price of gas down.
TRACY GRIMSHAW:
What about re-regulating the industry? What about a flat, basic, cheap rate that everyone can access and then choose their options on top of that so that everyone has access to affordable power?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I think if you have a, one regulated rate, then you eliminate the opportunity for competition.
It is important to make sure that there is competition in the market so that, you know, people will get cheaper prices.
But, obviously, you have got to be aware of what the competitive offers are.
So that's why EnergyMadeEasy.gov.au, click on that site, put in some information from your bill and you may be very pleasantly surprised.
TRACY GRIMSHAW:
But prices have exploded under competition. Competition hasn't done what it is supposed to do.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, again, there has been - there is competition here, but that is not what’s – competition is not driving up prices. There are a number of other factors and one of the big factors, of course, is the increase in gas. And the fact that we have seen Labor governments bring in, particularly in Victoria, bring in a lot of renewable energy, and South Australia is actually the worst case of all, which has driven out baseload coal-fired energy, but of course, the renewables, we all love renewables, that is fine, but they don't deliver baseload power.
So what we've got, is we've got renewable energy which is variable and only operates when the sun is shining or when the wind is blowing, driving out dispatchable baseload coal fired and indeed, gas-fired power.
So we are taking steps to rebalance the market in that respect.
TRACY GRIMSHAW:
Which brings me to my next question because power prices are only one half of this problem, the other half is power supply and you’ve just touched on it. We have coal stations that are being decommissioned and renewables which as we saw in South Australia last year are unreliable. Are we heading for a supply crisis in this country?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, potentially if the Labor Party had their way, you absolutely would be. And that is why we are taking strong steps to put in place-
(PHONE RINGS)
TRACY GRIMSHAW:
That’s your phone!
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah! I’d better turn that off.
(LAUGHTER)
TRACY GRIMSHAW:
You’re a man in demand.
PRIME MINISTER:
That’s right. Sorry Tracy.
So what we’re doing is taking strong steps to provide backups, so Snowy Hydro 2.0 is a very good example of the long term planning and leadership that has been so lacking in energy.
So what Snowy Hydro will do is operate as a huge battery and that will provide the backup for renewables, whether it is wind or solar. So that is a very, very important part of our plan.
But you know, all technologies have a role to play. Coal, gas, wind, solar, hydro and others. You’ve got to make sure they all work together. That’s why it has got to be planned.
TRACY GRIMSHAW:
Snowy Hydro is a great idea but it is six years away, what are we going to do for the next six hot summers now Hazelwood has been decommissioned and it took up the slack last year?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah, again, that’s a good point. You’ve got to have short-term immediate action and longer-term plans. In the immediate term, you’ve seen the action we’ve taken on retail bills, on consumer bills today and three weeks ago with the retailers. We’re bringing down the price of gas. Again, that’s happening right now.
Now in terms of making sure we’ve got enough electricity for the summer, the Australian Energy Market Operator has put in place the planning for this summer but longer term we are going to have to make sure that we have enough baseload power.
And I’ve been having meetings about that today, you’ll be hearing more about that in the future. My approach to energy is driven by engineering and economics. I am determined to ensure Australians have affordable and reliable power.
Ideology and idiocy, which is what we’ve had from Labor, only leads to grief. And that’s what happened in South Australia.
TRACY GRIMSHAW:
Alright. Let’s change focus for a moment because the other big issue that is occupying the world at the moment is what is happening in North Korea. They fired a missile over Japan yesterday. How afraid should we be? How close is the world potentially to a nuclear war in North Korea?
PRIME MINISTER:
If the leader of North Korea continues down this provocative track the risk of war gets greater all the time. Now, the reality however is that if he starts a war, he’ll lose it instantly. So it would in effect be a suicide note on his part.
What he is trying to do is to intimidate his neighbours, intimidate Japan, intimidate South Korea, intimidate the United States into giving him what he wants. He wants to be able to be free of these economic sanctions and he’s threatening people with these missile tests.
We utterly condemn this reckless and dangerous conduct.
I was discussing it with Prime Minister Abe of Japan just earlier this afternoon and the global community is absolutely united in our determination to bring Kim Jong-un to his senses.
Now, the key to doing that is for China to enforce the United Nations Security Council sanctions which they said they will do. China is his biggest economic relationship by far and so they have the ability to put the screws on North Korea economically that will bring that regime to its senses. But he is going down a very very dangerous and reckless path.
TRACY GRIMSHAW:
The problem is that we have two unpredictable, volatile leaders in North Korea and in the US who both have their hands on the nuclear button.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think you’re being very unfair to President Trump. I mean, Kim Jong-un is behaving in a manner that is dangerous, illegal, reckless and provocative. He is threatening the region. He is threatening the world. He has to come to his senses. Nobody wants conflict. Nobody wants conflict. And what we need is that continued economic tightening on North Korea because ultimately that will bring that regime to its senses.
TRACY GRIMSHAW:
Okay, thank you for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks Tracy.
[ENDS]