Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment and Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:56): I thank the senator for his question. Our government has been working across a range of fronts to ensure that energy prices are contained and come down. What we've seen is that there are emerging signs in some quarters of price relief in terms of consumers being able to access lower energy prices. Consumers, of course, who find themselves on default plans now find that, without question, they are in a position to enjoy better deals as a result of the reforms that this government has put in place. The reforms we've put in place in relation to the gouging that has occurred in terms of the gold plating of infrastructure and the like are, again, about keeping prices as low as possible into the future. These reforms across the board, whether they relate of to retail, generation or transmission— The PRESIDENT: Order. Senator Ayres, on a point of order. Senator Ayres: Relevance: I was hoping that the Minister representing the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction would answer the question. The PRESIDENT: I can't instruct the minister how to answer a question. I believe the minister is being directly relevant if he's talking about prices because that was the nature of your question, Senator Ayres. I can't instruct him as to the content or how to answer it. Senator Birmingham. Senator BIRMINGHAM: The reality is that we found and encountered prices that were absolutely escalating far too high far too quickly, hurting households and businesses across the country. The actions we've taken—whether it's generation reforms to encourage new generation to put stability into the grid in terms of both generation and prices, to reform transmission, to change market rules and to stop gouging we've seen in transmission or, in particular, the retail reforms that ensure Australians don't get pushed onto default contracts that are unfair and that take advantage of those who are most vulnerable—are benefitting Australians and will continue to provide price relief in terms of the type of increases experienced in the past not being repeated again in the future. The PRESIDENT: Senator Ayres, a supplementary question?