The Advertiser People’s Cabinet exposes Anthony Albanese and Peter Malinauskas on energy prices | Paul Starick

A small business influencer has laid bare the biggest issue for Anthony Albanese and Peter Malinauskas in election campaigns, writes Paul Starick.

History is repeating as an influential Adelaide publican zeros in during an election campaign on the real-life pain crushing small businesses, caused by government policy failures.

Hospitality industry leader Simone Douglas, the Small Business Minister in The Advertiser People’s Cabinet, told the diverse group’s first meeting that firms were “drowning” under oppressive cost surges.

Zeroing in on energy prices, Ms Douglas said her monthly bill since taking over the Duke of Brunswick Hotel seven years ago had surged from $3200 to $5600 – despite installing energy-efficient equipment and solar panels.

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“The current energy policies at a federal level and a state level aren’t working. In South Australia we pay a very high price for our energy costs,” she told the People’s Cabinet.

This is the weakest link in the re-election platforms of both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Peter Malinauskas

Mr Albanese broke his promise to cut household power bills by $275, while Mr Malinauskas has shelved his Hydrogen Jobs Plan, which promised “more competition in the electricity market amongst industrial users and significant savings in their electricity costs”.

But households and businesses are shuddering under crippling power prices and are perplexed by the continued inability of the politicians to stop decades-long fights and fix the issue.

“They need to come up with some new policy, like in business when something’s not working we get told to pivot, right, and try something different, there needs to be some kind of pivot,” Ms Douglas told the People’s Cabinet.

The Advertiser Peoples Cabinet. Home Affairs Minister Bruce Djite, Small Business Minister Simone Douglas, Panda, Paul Starick, Treasurer Adrian Tembel, Youth Minister Sargunpreet Kaur, Foreign Affairs, Climate Change and Energy Minister Alexander Downer. Picture: Brett Hartwig

People across the state and nation will be applauding this sentiment, just as they did when Ms Douglas spearheaded the hospitality industry’s campaign to end oppressive Covid-19 capacity limits.

The Hospo Owners Collective, which Ms Douglas co-founded, in August, 2021, launched an emotive video campaign pleading for an immediate end to venue capacity limits as the industry marked more than 500 days of restricted trade.

The Hospo Owners Collective, including Simone Douglas (front right), hold a funeral procession for the industry in November, 2021, walking through Peel St and Hindley St. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

That campaign inflicted immense political pain on the Marshall Liberal government. Even in the-then safest Liberal state seat two months before the 2022 state election, a Port Lincoln cafe owner displayed a sign on stacked tables and chairs, saying they were “not in use due to an overexcited bunch of politicians” and personally targeted the-then premier.

“No one looking out for the small business of South Australia. Bad form Steven Marshall,” the sign read.

Sign on stacked tables and chairs protesting at Covid-19 restrictions in Del Giorno's Cafe Restaurant in Port Lincoln on January 12, 2022. Picture: Paul Starick.

More than three years on, Ms Douglas is championing the cause of small businesses being squeezed with increased costs from electricity, rent, insurance, consumables and suppliers. In an alarming observation, she says many owners are working up to 90 hours a week to offset increased labour costs – the only cost they now can control.

Yet, as she rightly points out, “small business doesn’t really seem to be on the federal agenda from either party right now, except in a kind of transitory way”.

The switch of the small business sector behind Mr Malinauskas was a key factor in him securing a landslide 2022 state election victory, sinking Mr Marshall after just one term.

Small business, by the state government’s estimation, comprises 98 per cent of SA firms. It is a powerful lobby that has already shown it can swiftly switch allegiances.

Both Mr Albanese and Mr Malinauskas might think they’re on an electoral winner by championing the opportunities from the energy transition and becoming a “green energy superpower”.

Likewise, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton hopes his plan to boost gas supply and introduce nuclear energy will be a vote-winner by making electricity cheaper.

But, as Ms Douglas strikingly demonstrates, voters are tired of hearing politicians talk and break promises while electricity bills inexorably rise.

This exposes a huge weak spot for incumbent governments, particularly if they have vowed to bring down prices yet, once again, have failed to deliver. People just want reliable, affordable power.

Originally published as The Advertiser People’s Cabinet exposes Anthony Albanese and Peter Malinauskas on energy prices | Paul Starick