00:00Up to 9.7 per cent is an increase in New South Wales off the back of successive increases
00:09in the cost of living for people is really tough.
00:13We're very worried about the impacts it will have, particularly for people on low and modest
00:17incomes and we need a comprehensive package of reforms now to make sure that we are taking
00:23very seriously both the important transition to renewables and also the impact of people
00:32who are now facing in some cases really dramatic further increases in their energy bills.
00:37There are some big changes to the environment that is in the hands of governments to implement.
00:44Under the previous Albanese government first term we got a big investment in home energy
00:50upgrades for low income housing, but that would only get us about 25 per cent of social
00:56housing covered.
00:58So we want to see further investment to upgrade low income housing.
01:02So it's really energy efficient, solar panels, et cetera.
01:06Secondly, we need to fix the adequacy of social security.
01:10JobSeeker is still just $56 per day.
01:13There's no way that somebody on JobSeeker now is going to be able to cover the cost of these
01:17energy bills going up further.
01:20And writing off energy debt that is accumulated for very low income people across the country,
01:25that's got to be a top priority.
01:27And we do think it's time to look at the default market offer regulation itself.
01:31At the moment it's permitted to assess that by reference to what's reasonable, by reference
01:37to the market.
01:38But this is really meant to be a safety net.
01:41And we're calling for a review of the regulation of the DMO itself because the result today
01:46is really devastating for people.
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