Struggling Power Users Slugged Again by Barnett Government as Relief Denied
4 July 2013
Greens WA spokesperson on Energy issues, Robin Chapple MLC, today slammed the Barnett-Grylls government over its secretive move to hide the report of the Tariff and Concession Review from the public.
“If it wasn’t for my recent questioning of the Minister for Energy in Parliament, the government could have just gone on hiding this shocking decision indefinitely.
“The Review was set up, by this very government, less than 2 years ago, but the Minister would now have us believe its findings are not relevant!
“What an insult to the public servants who conducted the review – not to mention a slap-in-the-face to the constituents who worked very hard to assist my submission to the Review, and the dozens of other community groups, welfare organizations and concerned individuals who made detailed submissions to the Review.
“In setting up the Review, the government itself acknowledged that households face hardships paying electricity bills, and that this leads to many people finding it hard to sustain good health, access to employment and education opportunities, and social support services.
“A very worthy sentiment – but not enough to stop this Minister now throwing the recommendations on the scrapheap – without them even having seen the light of day!
“The Minister may think it’s very clever to tell me the report is “no longer relevant”, but I call on him now to directly inform the struggling families, and other marginalized low-income groups, whose hopes of power bill relief were buoyed by the government’s Review, only to have them now cruelly dashed by this gross act of indifference.
