Secret advice given to Australia’s energy minister reveals that household electricity prices are set to climb during the current financial year, while the nation’s efforts to cut emissions will require much greater ambition.
After a prolonged battle to keep the information private, the federal government has finally released briefing notes prepared for Chris Bowen’s department at the outset of this parliamentary session.
These heavily redacted documents caution Bowen that energy expenses consistently rank as the second biggest concern for Australian households, trailing only food and grocery costs.
An unredacted portion of the report notes, “Government policies have temporarily eased energy bills for households and small businesses.”
However, it continues, “The draft Default Market Offer suggests a notable increase in retail electricity prices in the next financial year.”
The Default Market Offer serves as a benchmark for power prices in areas such as southeast Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, as determined by the national energy regulator.
Under the most recent version for this financial year, which was published in late May, prices were expected to increase between half a per cent and nearly 10 per cent depending on the state.
A draft version was published in March, before the 2025 election.
The documents also warn a ‘strong push’ will be needed to finalise Australia’s climate commitments, and more work is needed to hit its carbon pollution goals.
‘Emission reductions need to accelerate rapidly to meet the 2030 target,’ the briefing note says.
It calls for full and timely implementation of Labor’s renewable energy policies to make Australia a ‘pragmatic climate leader’.
Since Bowen received the documents, the government has announced its 2035 target, aiming to reduce carbon pollution by between 62 and 70 per cent compared to 2005 levels.
A spokeswoman for Bowen downplayed the importance of the brief’s mention of energy prices, despite Labor having promised during the 2022 election campaign to reduce household energy bills by $275 a year if elected.
‘The reference to this financial year clearly refers to the 2025 Default Market Offer, the draft of which had already been released prior to the election,’ the spokeswoman said.
Liberal senator Dean Smith told The Australian: ‘This is part of a wider, increasingly obvious lack of transparency from Labor that is totally at odds with its false claims of accountability and openness to parliament and the Australian people.’
‘It is worrying that minister Bowen and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water appear to have followed incorrect procedure in attempting to prevent the release of this advice – raising bigger concerns about their approach to information requests generally,’ he said.
In a letter to senator Tim Ayres, Bowen said the redactions were to protect personal information, information relating to relationships with stakeholders, and cabinet deliberations.
‘It is contrary to the public interest to release this material in its entirety as the confidentiality of the briefings provided to an incoming government in the early stage of their term are essential to developing a relationship that accords with the conventions of responsible parliamentary government,’ he wrote.
‘Public release of volume one in its entirety would compromise the Australian Public Service’s role in managing the transition from one government to another. Further information that has been redacted could be prejudicial to relationships between the commonwealth and the states, as well as undermine international relations.’
Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan accused Bowen of presiding over a ‘reckless renewables rollout’ which is driving up energy costs.
‘We want to know what the costs are,’ he said.
‘Chris Bowen isn’t (being transparent) about the cost of the Labor approach.
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