Energy cost relief roll-out must be swift

This is not something that can be put on the backburner until after the annual Canberra hiatus with politicians returning to their homes around the country and the APS running on a skeleton staff.

Millions of Australians are hurting badly as a result of crippling energy price increases. They need to know what relief will look like and when it will arrive.

While there is an acknowledged time lag between the imposition of the coal and gas price caps recommended by the Treasury secretary Stephen Kennedy and any cooling in prices, that is not the case with direct assistance.

The details of the promised $3 billion in energy bill relief agreed to by the federal, state and territory governments last week must be fleshed out as quickly as possible.

All that is known at this point is $1.5 billion will come from the Commonwealth and $1.5 billion will come from the states and territories, that each state and territory will run its own program, and that people on Commonwealth payments such as the pension or JobSeeker will be eligible.

It is understood relief payments won't be made to individuals. Assistance will be in the form of a subsidy or discount on power bills. This appears to add an unnecessary degree of complexity because of questionable fears that letting people manage the money themselves would fuel inflation.

It has been suggested, given the complexities of putting together eight different programs, the first relief won't reach struggling households until next April at the earliest. That's four months from now.

This isn't good enough. If the Morrison government had waited four months to introduce its JobKeeper package, flawed though it turned out to be, the nation would have been in grave strife and millions would have been out of work.

While this government has been talking about the energy price crisis since before it was elected, it has taken an long time to formulate legislation to take to Parliament. To then take another four months to put it into effect seems almost obscene.

While the urge to be fiscally responsible is commendable, this is not the time, as Henry Kissinger was fond of saying, to "let the perfect be the enemy of the good".

That was certainly the spirit in which the Greens, Senator Pocock and other crossbenchers have approached Labor's proposal. They are supporting the package even while acknowledging it has deficiencies.

This pragmatic approach will be welcomed by Australians desperate for some certainty on energy pricing heading into Christmas and the New Year.

Adam Bandt's successful advocacy for a program to help low income households upgrade their appliances from gas to more modern and efficient electrical white goods is to be commended.

It is also difficult to disagree with Senator Pocock's assertion it is "unconscionable" for compensation to be paid to coal companies at a time when they are making record profits.

While Energy Minister Chris Bowen has said such payments would be "rare", this is definitely a case of "watch this space".

Meanwhile the opposition's refusal to support the assistance package is, although predictable, curious.

The cap is based on advice from the Treasury Secretary appointed by the Morrison government in 2019. The LNP was happy to accept Mr Kennedy's advice while it was in office. What has changed?