The Tasmanian
Industry Summit has thrown its support behind Labor’s energy policies in an
Official Communique.
On energy, the
summit agreed that “dramatic increases in energy pricing were a major
challenge for all businesses in Tasmania”, calling on the State Government
to “take actions to minimise the impacts.”
“This
Tasmanian Industry Summit calls on the Tasmanian Government to further support
Tasmanian businesses and households as they deal with energy price rises, this
could include a temporary price cap being placed on electricity or further
rebates from state owned generators,” the Official Communique read.
“It was
further noted that de-coupling the State from the Victorian energy price as a
base for Tasmanian users should be investigated. While maintaining access to
the national energy market is critical, Tasmanian’s setting the price for
Tasmanian users was seen as critical as the nation transitions to renewables.”
This position
from Tasmania’s key industry groups confirms exactly what Labor has been saying
– that Tasmanians deserve to pay Tasmanian prices for Tasmanian power, and not
continue to be ripped off by the Liberals power tax.
Tasmanian Labor
has a policy of capping power price increases at 2.5 per cent. Labor’s policy
would stop these unfair increases and save households around $500 a year and
businesses thousands.
We also have a
policy of applying a power rebate for larger contracted customers, who’ve seen
their prices double and in some cases triple over the last nine months.
Our previous generations worked hard to build the
Hydro and give Tasmania the abundance of renewable energy we have now. Our
current generation deserves to see some of the fruits of their labour.
But instead of Tasmanian-made energy being used to
benefit local businesses and households, profits from the Hydro are going to
Government coffers so they can pay for vanity projects like a billion-dollar
stadium.
The voices in the community have now become too loud for the Government to ignore – Tasmanians want to pay Tasmanian prices for Tasmanian power.
Dean
Winter MP
Shadow
Minister for Energy & Emissions Reduction
