Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

The latest Consumer Price Index shows that all Australians are now benefiting from a 5.1 per cent reduction in electricity prices following the scrapping of the carbon tax.

This is single largest quarterly fall in electricity prices since ABS electronic records began in September 1980.

In July, the Government followed through with its commitment to scrap the carbon tax which was a $9 billion hit on the economy each year.

Labor’s carbon tax was also a $550 hit on household costs and it did nothing for the environment.

Scrapping the carbon tax was always about reducing cost of living pressures and passing the savings onto families and businesses. Today’s Consumer Price Index shows these benefits are making their way through the economy.

Treasury estimates that the abolition of the carbon tax will reduce the Consumer Price Index by around 0.7 percentage points through the year to the June quarter of 2015.

The Consumer Price Index for the September quarter also showed a reduction in the price of automotive fuel by 2.5 per cent.

Overall, the Consumer Price Index rose 0.5 per cent in the September quarter 2014, which compares to a similar rise in the June quarter.

Headline inflation was 2.3 per cent through the year, following 3.0 per cent growth through the year to the June quarter, which was due to the stronger inflation in the second half of 2013.