Today’s consumer price index figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that utility price increases are accelerating not slowing down under Labor, Senator Barnaby Joyce said today.
“Last week public buildings were burning down in the centre of Sydney while homeless people merely miles away slept on the street. This week we find that good honest hard working people are struggling with the fundamentals of life because the Labor party’s management is incompetent.
“The elixir of the quality of life is the price of power.
“Labor can raise its bat today. Under this Labor government electricity prices have gone up by over 50% in not much more than 3 years. That is a bigger total increase than under the 11 years of the previous Coalition government.
“It doesn’t stop there. Ill-considered investments in desalination have caused water prices to go up by 46% and gas prices have gone up by 30%.
“Last winter my mother-in-law told me that on her meals-on-wheels runs she often finds pensioners in bed, not because they are sick, but because it is the warmest part of the house when they can’t afford the heating.
“Under Labor things aren’t getting any easier and they are not going to with a carbon tax that will push up electricity bills by another $200 per year at least.
“Australians don’t need more excuses to save on power; they have plenty of reasons already.
“But it’s not just household bills that will get hit. Combined with a high Australian dollar, these price increases are hurting Australian manufacturing. Do we want to make life even tougher for them and risk having no manufacturing industry in this countryat all?
“All for a plan to cool the planet from a room in Canberra.”
Even after adjusting for inflation:
· Electricity prices have been going up 10% per year under Labor, compared to 1% under previous Coalition government
· Water prices have gone up by 9% per year under Labor, compared to 1% under previous Coalition government
· Gas prices have gone up by 5% per year under Labor, compared to 1% under previous Coalition government