Today’s release of Anglicare Australia’s Cost of Living Index highlights the affordability crisis occurring under Labor’s energy policies.
Under Labor the number of people who have an energy debt has soared with the Australian Energy Regulator finding that 331,750 customers were behind on their energy bills in 2024.
Low income earners are finding they cannot meet their energy bills at a time when Energy Minister Chris Bowen is throwing billions of dollars at energy companies.
The Cost of Living Index report shows that a single minimum wage worker has just $33 after covering core living costs and for a single parent household, receiving government supplements, has only $1 per week.
Labor promised that electricity prices would be $275 cheaper by the end of the year.
With more people being forced onto hardship programs because they can’t pay their power bill Labor’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen should front up and apologise for his gross incompetence.
Minister Bowen’s ideological renewables only approach is threatening our energy security and leading to higher electricity prices for Australian families.
There is no transparency about the true costs to consumers of ideologically decarbonising the grid through a renewable only approach, apart from the number of people sadly being forced into hardship.
Anglicare Australia’s Cost of Living Index report is available at https://www.anglicare.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Cost-of-Living-Index-June-2025-Minimum-Wage.pdf
ENDS
Contact: Byron Vale 02 6277 4426 | byron.vale@aph.gov.au
