QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr BOWEN (McMahon—Minister for Climate Change and Energy) (14:02): I am deeply grateful to the Leader of the Opposition for the question, although I think it might have been better if she had been more transparent with the House. The Leader of the Opposition has asserted that the incoming government brief said one thing, but she didn't read the full quote from the incoming government brief.

I will. It says: … the draft Default Market Offer points to a further significant increase in retail electricity prices next financial year. The important thing about the incoming government brief referring to the default market offer is that that market offer was already public, not only when I received the incoming government brief, so it was hardly a revelation, but also before the election.

The default market offer increase was released by the Australian Energy Regulator before the 2025 election. It is not uncommon for a minister to receive a default market offer just before an election, and then the minister has an opportunity, a decision point, before them at that point. The minister can say, 'It should be released in a transparent fashion.' The minister can do that.

That's what I did. Here's the press release from me referring to the release of the default market offer, this secret briefing that the Leader of the Opposition is so concerned about reading on the front page of the Australian today. I table my press release from 11 March 2025, which was before the federal election.

The alternative option available to a minister when receiving a default market offer that is high before an election is to change the law to keep it secret. That is the alternative option before a minister and an option I declined to take. But it is an option one of my predecessors did take.

The Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction on 31 March 2022, almost three years before, changed the law by regulation to keep it secret until after the election. I table that as well. The Leader of the Opposition quoted from the incoming government brief.

If the Leader of the Opposition had read on, she might have further quoted that brief, which said: Decarbonising the electricity and energy system is foundational to achieving whole-of-economy transformation, maintaining energy affordability and reliability … There's a whole lot more where that came from. I hope I get more questions from the opposition on the incoming government brief.

Ms Bell interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Moncrieff can cease interjecting for the remainder of question time.