Canberra 12 July 2013. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s claims to have any serious plan to put power prices and electricity market reform at the centre of public policy should be treated with the scepticism and scorn they deserve, on the back of his extensive record of doing absolutely nothing to address this issue, Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources Ian Macfarlane said.

“During his first stint as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd took the gold standard for doing nothing on energy markets reform and electricity prices, closely followed by Julia Gillard who continued the Rudd tradition of ignoring the need for ongoing reform to ensure long term supplies and to minimise cost increases,” Mr Macfarlane said.

“In fact, in the past five and a half years the only meaningful contribution to power prices from either the Rudd or Gillard Labor Governments has been to drive them up by at least 10 per cent for homes and even more for businesses because of the carbon tax.

“During the first five years of the Rudd/Gillard Labor Government electricity prices went up almost 90 per cent.

“It’s too late for Kevin Rudd to claim he has a plan to address this issue.

“For three years as Prime Minister Mr Rudd did nothing.

“As a senior cabinet Minister in the Gillard Government Kevin Rudd did nothing.

“What’s more, any serious long term plan will need to include open consultation with energy and resource industry stakeholders.  This is the very industry that Kevin Rudd froze out and dumped on with his failed Resource Super Profits Tax – one of the policy debacles that led the Labor Party to remove him from the job in 2010.

“Kevin Rudd’s record speaks for itself.

“His latest statements on energy markets and power prices are vintage Rudd – no details, no plan, no track record of delivery.

“Australia needs a Government prepared to do the hard yards on energy market reform.

“Long term reform was at the heart of the Howard Government’s energy policy and an incoming Coalition Government would once again give this matter the serious attention it deserves – away from the headlines and the dot points.

“First and foremost, we’ll abolish the carbon tax, which is one of the main factors driving the latest increases in energy costs.

“If elected a Coalition Government will resume the comprehensive and co-operative approach with all stakeholders including State Governments, energy generators, distributors and consumers, to ensure Australia’s energy future is on a strong footing and spiralling power prices are addressed.”