Labor broke its promise: Dutton

OPPOSITION Leader Peter Dutton says it is understandable there is a “rising level of anger” that Labor did not deliver on an election promise to reduce energy prices.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ first Labor budget in almost a decade on Tuesday night offered a grim outlook on rising cost-of-living pressures.

Mr Dutton on Thursday said the Labor Party had failed to follow through on an election promise to reduce energy prices by $275.

“(Anthony Albanese) made the promise on 97 occasions and looked the Australian public in the eye before the election and said your bills will go down by $275,” Mr Dutton said.

“They made a commitment and

I think when you break the trust and faith of people,

Peter Dutton. I think people are disappointed at best.

“There is a level of rising anger and dismay with some of the decisions made by this government.”

Despite the 2025 deadline Labor set to fulfil the promise being three years away, Mr Dutton called the plan a “pipe dream”.

“This government wants you to believe that if they just keep pumping renewables in the system that all will be OK in a few years,” he said.

He pointed to the government’s $20bn plan to “rewire the nation” by accelerating new electricity transmission links between states as the east coast power grid moves to transition away from coal power.

Modelling by consultancy firm RepuTex suggests the plan will lift renewable energy generation from 35 per cent to 82 per cent by 2030. “They’ve got 28,000km of poles and wires to roll out across the country to try and distribute this renewable energy,” Mr Dutton said. “It’s never going to happen, it’s a complete and utter pipe dream.”

Mr Dutton also claimed the government failed to address soaring gas prices in its first budget by opposing the approval of new gas fields.