Wednesday, 8 June 2022

 Ms BATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:43): My question is to the Minister for Resources. Minister, you have flagged that it is your intention to increase Latrobe Valley mine rehabilitation bonds. Does the government have modelling on the impact of this decision on electricity prices for households and small businesses, and if so, what cost increases will be generated?

 Ms PULFORD (Western Victoria—Minister for Employment, Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Resources) (12:43): Thank you, Ms Bath, for your question on rehabilitation bonds. The legislation requires that rehabilitation bonds are reviewed every five years, and it is that year in the five-year cycle, so that process is underway. The bonds assess the actual cost of rehabilitation of the mines, so the inputs into that are around the costs of rehabilitation rather than going to the question of the impacts on the companies that have those liabilities. But the companies that have those liabilities obviously well understand what they are and what their legal responsibilities are and have been, and their responsibilities in terms of safe, stable and sustainable rehabilitation have been a consistent legislative provision for a very long time.

 Ms BATH (Eastern Victoria) (12:44): Thank you, Minister. I do not actually think that you addressed my question that related to electricity prices. Minister, will you—will the government—guarantee Victorians that increasing Latrobe Valley mine rehabilitation bonds will not lead to increased household and small business electricity prices?

 Ms PULFORD (Western Victoria—Minister for Employment, Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Resources) (12:45): I thank Ms Bath for her supplementary question. Ms Bath is seeking to conflate two processes and two matters. Whilst there is some relationship between them, I think she is suggesting that A plus B equals C in a way that is just simply not true. As members will know—and it has been on the front page of every national newspaper in the country for some time and particularly so in recent weeks—there are a number of factors impacting the cost of living in this country and indeed in a whole lot of other places around the world, including energy costs, particularly when Mr Meddick in the warmest part of Western Victoria reckons it is only getting to 4. I could show him a thing or two about how cold it gets where I am. But I did answer your question in the substantive, which is the nature of the inputs that are considered as part of those reviews, which is a well-established process and is running its usual course.