Thursday, 22 June 2023

Power saving bonus

Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (17:38): (316) My adjournment matter is to the Minister for Energy and Resources, and it relates to the government’s power saving bonus. The action that I seek is for the minister to release how much the program costs to run, including staff, digital advertising, workspace or any other expense required to run the program. This program has to be the biggest scam going around. We have got a system in Victoria where everyone pays tax and it goes into consolidated revenue. Money is then offered – not given – back to the taxpayer under this scheme. It is a scheme supposedly in place to make sure that you get the best power deal, but the scheme is so flawed that it is not funny. The problem is you do not even have to change power companies under the scheme. You do not even have to compare prices if you do not want to – you just literally click the ‘close’ button and it is gone.

Anyone wanting the bonus has to go online and apply for it via the government-owned website operated by government employees. Your application is then processed by government employees and the bonus dispersed by government employees. The government basically takes money from taxpayers through taxes on one hand – those buying houses, those in business or consumers – and then pays it back via government-paid employees, and that is only if you apply for it. This has to be the biggest exercise in waste. You take money from one hand and you give it back to the other, and we are expected to be thankful; we are expected to be happy. Does the government want a big round of applause for this? It is a complete disgrace and a total waste of time.

But I do not just come to this debate with criticism. I have got an idea that might actually help the government, and it is very simple one. Step one: find the total cost of the program. Step two: scrap it. Step three: reduce state taxes by that equivalent amount. Problem solved. What is better is that the cost-of-living relief is improved for those that you are trying to give it to, because you are cutting out the middleman. The government could, if they wanted to, just leave the money in the pockets of the taxpayer instead of taking it from them and then paying someone to give it back. I encourage the minister to be decent, to be kind, to show care for our taxpayers. Ditch the program, cut the waste and stop making Victorians apply to get their own money back.