The Andrews Labor Government’s decision to ban gas connections for new homes in Victoria will tighten the screws further on household budgets when Australians can afford it least.
Households are suffering under Labor’s cost-of-living crisis, with one in ten people unable to pay their power bills, yet the Victorian State Government is intent on making life even harder.
As a firm believer in consumer choice, the Coalition is disappointed by this decision as it will rip away people’s right to make their own decisions on what’s best for them.
Instead, we have another ‘big government’ Labor mandate forcing people to do as they’re told – and leaving them to find the money to comply with these orders.
Australian households are paying some of the world’s highest energy prices under Labor because of shortsighted decisions like this.
We know what happens when you restrict supply, and you restrict choice – prices go up.
When a similar decision was taken by the ACT Government, gas prices spiked by 3.2 percent for households and 3.5 percent for small business.
Beyond the Andrews Labor Government’s spin, the reality is that this decision will be worse for the environment and worse for household budgets.
While the concept of electrification appears positive, the reality is that it is entirely dependent on where the electricity comes from and how much it costs.
In Victoria, electricity is 5.84 times more emissions intensive than gas which means electrification would see households that are partly gas fuelled, become largely coal fuelled.
What’s worse is that recent Parliamentary Budget Office research commissioned by Senator David Pocock revealed that the price of household electrification could blow out to over $60 billion Australia wide.
I am deeply concerned for Victorians about to be hit by another Labor price rise following this decision.