CANBERRA, AAP – Warnings of rising power prices are the latest in a climate scare campaign by the coalition ahead of the election, Labor says.
The coalition released modelling on Tuesday which showed consumers would be financially worse off under Labor’s plan to increase the size of the transmission network.
Energy Minister Angus Taylor said the independent regulator set prices for poles and wires and claimed increasing the value of the network as Labor plans to do would increase household energy prices.
“When Labor say they want to increase the value of the network by $78 billion, what they are saying is they are happy to slug Australian families with a higher bill,” he said.
But the response to Labor’s plan showed the Liberal-National coalition does not have a commitment to net zero emissions, opposition spokesman Jason Clare said.
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He said Labor’s plan to power Australia was the most detailed proposal an opposition had ever released and it had been independently costed and modelled by experts.
“What that (modelling) shows is that if you take the action that we’re proposing to take to get us to net zero by 2050, you cut emissions but you also create create hundreds of thousands of jobs, most of them in the regions, and you cut people’s electricity bills,” he told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
Mr Clare also criticised the government for not revealing where it had come up with the figures showing increased prices.
“The Business Council of Australia, the Chamber of Commerce, the National Farmers Federation have all backed (Labor’s plan) in, so if the government wants to play this game, release your modelling,” he said.
