ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: National Cabinet met virtually today to discuss national priorities, and I want to thank the premiers and chief ministers for the ongoing constructive spirit in which they've engaged in discussions. Today was important. We heard from Professor Michael Kidd, the Acting Chief Medical Officer, about the ongoing issues dealing with COVID. We're moving towards managing these issues. The framework builds on the principles agreed by the National Cabinet in September to support a nationally consistent approach to transition Australia's COVID-19 response. We agreed to extend the high-risk settings pandemic payment over the summer period, to provide targeted financial support to casual workers in high-risk settings. In addition to that, we had an important discussion about disaster recovery and about getting better planning in areas impacted by natural disasters which we are seeing occur more frequently and with more intensity due to climate change. And there will be further discussions in 2023 about that, led by New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet. We also had a discussion about early learning, and agreed on a framework going forward about training for early learning which is important.
Today's meeting was mainly taken up with dealing with our Energy Price Relief Plan, and I'm pleased to announce that there was agreement at the National Cabinet on a way forward to provide the energy price relief for households and for businesses. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, and we know with the Russian invasion of Ukraine what we've seen is a massive increase in global energy prices. And because of Australia not investing in enough of our own energy assets, what we have is a vulnerability to those international price movements and that is placing pressure on businesses here but also on households going forward. The Federal Government, together with state and territory governments, is determined to provide some relief, and to take what are extraordinary measures to deal with these extraordinary times. We're taking urgent action to shield Australian families from the worst impacts of these price hikes. We're working hand in hand with our state and territory partners to find the best outcomes for all Australians – keeping Australians in work, keeping industry going, and making sure that families and businesses can pay their bills.
There are four components that were agreed to today. Firstly, the Commonwealth will take action on gas in putting a mandatory code of conduct in place for a temporary period of 12 months of $12 a gigajoule. The ACCC will be responsible for monitoring and enforcement, and will be provided extra resources to do so. Parliament, I can report, will be recalled next week to deal with the legislation and I want to thank the Greens, crossbench members, as well as the senators including Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock who I've had discussions with today, who have agreed that it's appropriate that Parliament be recalled next week to make sure that this legislation can be carried. The second element is the Commonwealth working with New South Wales and Queensland to introduce a temporary coal price cap of $125 per tonne. New South Wales will be negotiating out a code but will also be legislating to ensure that this occurs. Queensland will be using its direction powers under the Government Owned Corporations Act, given that they are part owners of the energy sector there in Queensland, in particular the Gladstone plant. In New South Wales as well, where there is a suggestion that there might be a cost of production that is more than the cost of providing that resource, then the Commonwealth would be providing support. The third element of the package is nationally targeted bill relief. The Commonwealth will provide up to $1.5 billion to provide support for households and also small businesses. This will be paid through state governments by reducing people's bills. This is important, rather than cash handouts, so that it makes a difference as well to having a deflationary impact on the economy, rather than an inflationary one. That is why it has been done through that method, and treasurers will work on a package for each state and territory which will be provided for that support and they will be finalising that package for the beginning of next year. It will also be temporary, but will start in the second quarter of 2023. The fourth element is securing our energy future, and yesterday's announcement and agreement by energy ministers for the Capacity Investment Scheme is very much a part of that, as is the Commonwealth's Rewiring the Nation program. This is about bringing energy transmission into the 21st century. So it's about making sure that transmission is brought up to date but it's also about increasing capacity of the networks, and together, this plan that was agreed to by energy ministers yesterday and which there will be more announcements about our Rewiring The Nation Program, on top of the announcements that we've made up to today, will take us forward. Together this package is a constructive plan. It's a constructive plan to deal with the challenges that households and businesses are facing, and it is an example of the Commonwealth working hand in hand with states and territories, working these issues through to achieve an outcome to ensure that the energy price relief does occur. I'll take a couple of questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can you explain how the discounts will be applied to energy bills in a way that doesn't have an impact on inflation?
PRIME MINISTER: There are two ways that you could provide some relief. The first is the idea of cash payments to people, which would potentially have an inflationary impact – Treasury advice was to not go down that track. But to reduce power bills, we will work with each of the states and territories, it will be not the same plan in each state and territory, given each of them have different systems and indeed that is part of the complexity of what we have been dealing with, is the fact that we have eight different systems around the country. So what it will do is to reduce people's power bills, there are a range of programs that some states and territories have now which is to take off an amount off people's power bills. We will be providing support for those in receipt of Commonwealth payments. That is pensioners, for people who are receiving family tax benefits, people who are receiving JobSeeker, people who are receiving payments.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I understand that a lot of the amounts will be different in each state but what people want to know is how much they're going to get. Have you got a range of figures of the relief that people can expect?
PRIME MINISTER: The amount will vary from states. What we know is that because of WA, for example, because of the Carpenter Government having the vision, frankly, to make sure that there are domestic gas reservations, then the impact on their price of WA, as well as the Northern Territory, ACT and Tasmania, is less than the states which are at the heart of the national energy market. So that is why the relief will be worked through. That is why there will be a differentiation across states, but we are providing that $1.5 billion, up to that, because we are looking at providing support for households, but also for small businesses. With households as well, part of working through with states and territories is that because it is a dollar for dollar contribution we will be asking states and territories to contribute, there is built into the mechanism an incentive so that those states and territories that are looking to have the highest increase will have an incentive to put in more themselves as well.
JOURNALIST: Just a couple of things, can you tell us for how long will the caps, the price caps, be on coal and gas? And you said you are prepared if need be to compensate coal producers left out of pocket by the cap, how much have you offered or are you prepared to compensate the Queensland Government for its loss of dividend caused by the cap?
PRIME MINISTER: The first question is for 12 months is how long this will last for. And the second does not apply, re Queensland, they will be taking action themselves, under the direction powers that they have of the Government Owned Corporations Act. We will be providing support for Queensland under our Rewiring the Nation program, support for infrastructure, particularly for their planned expansion, some initial contributions, so that the work can be done on their plan that’s around Central Queensland.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Treasury in the Budget was forecasting power prices to rise by 56 per cent combined this year and next. This package that starts, I take it, at the end of the second quarter next year, how much of that projected increase will this package undo?
PRIME MINISTER: What it will do is put downward pressure on those increases which were envisaged. If we sat back and didn't take action, then we know that that impact would occur as was predicted by Treasury. But we make this point as well, that we heard today from Clare Savage who reported to the National Cabinet as the energy regulator. And one of the things that Ms Savage reported was that there has already been some downward pressure on price as a result of the Commonwealth saying that we would take action. And so we have already seen that downward pressure as a direct result of the statements that the Commonwealth has made since the Budget.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will you consider implementing a longer-term east coast reserve as has been called by the Victorian Premier, or is that off the table?
PRIME MINISTER: What we’re dealing with here is the immediate issues that we had to deal with, as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the changes that have occurred as a direct result of that and of where we were in the market. Can I also say that as a result of the measures that we’ve taken, one of the things that we were very careful of doing was to not deal with or not interfere with any of the existing export systems that are in place. So we wanted to make sure there weren’t issues of sovereign risk. Australia remains a country where you can trade with certainty. So with regard to existing, be it gas or coal, contracts overseas, this will have no impact on it. Now with regard to future developments, including of course the Narrabri Project was made a priority by the New South Wales Government today, then they are all issues that can be considered.
JOURNALIST: Thanks Prime Minister, two questions if you can hear me clearly there. The first is just on the mechanics which is you mention that you want the $1.5 billion in assistance to go to people on JobSeeker and so forth, but I thought it would be paid through the states, so how do you ensure that the state pays people who are on federal assistance, because I assume the states wouldn't know that. The second is not on the mechanics, it’s on the big picture – the war in Ukraine is going on for longer than people hoped. You have got a temporary plan here, but why is it temporary? Some of the problems we are seeing in global energy markets right now are going to be with us for a long time. So is there potential to extend this beyond one year because we’re going to need help for more than one year?
PRIME MINISTER: These are extraordinary times which is why we are dealing with these through extraordinary measures, and we envisage that 12 months is right. These are actions that wouldn't have been contemplated by governments in normal times, but governments throughout the world have had to take action and we are taking action here today.
JOURNALIST: Just following up on the first part of that question there, just on the mechanics of the payments and just to clarify on who gets it, is it just support for people on payments? Is it means tested or will everyone be getting it regardless of income? And further to what Crowie was saying, how will the states be giving this money out if it is going to be going through the federal payment system?
PRIME MINISTER: Because the states, and one of the things we did today was that the Treasurer will work with state treasurers and in at least one case, Mark McGowan, the Premier is the Treasurer, will work through how the payments can be provided for those who receive some Commonwealth payment. That is a reasonable way to identify vulnerable people, or the most vulnerable people, and to ensure that those payments are made. But that will be worked through between the Commonwealth Treasurer and the Department of Treasury and the state counterparts. The appropriate way to pay it is through state governments because that’s how you take money off people's bills rather than provide cash payments and that’s important so that you have a deflationary impact rather than inflationary.
JOURNALIST: Two quick questions if you’ve got time, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: I’m not going anywhere, James.
JOURNALIST: Firstly, could you outline a little bit how this would work (inaudible), and secondly, you’ve set a gas price, what mechanisms have you put in place to make sure that the companies will actually supply gas at that price. What is to stop them just exporting it all?
PRIME MINISTER: I didn’t hear the first part of the question but I will answer the second part and that you can repeat the first part, James. On the first part, we already have a Heads of Agreement for the provision of 157 petajoules from the gas suppliers. So that is already in place and what this plan will do is to also provide additional resources for the ACCC to make sure that it is provided. And the first part of the question?
JOURNALIST: Could you outline how this is going to work for small businesses, what’s the definition of a small business and what sort of relief can they expect?
PRIME MINISTER: That will be worked through by the Treasurer and the state and territory treasurers in coming weeks. There will be a report back to the National Cabinet early next year, before the support commences, which is envisaged to be in the second quarter of 2023. Thanks very much.