Markets 
The number of Queenslanders needing help to pay energy bills doubled in the last year as the fuel crisis further exasperated cost-of-living pressures.
Those on hardship payment plans rose from nearly 18,500 to more than 37,000, according to new data from the Australian Energy Regulator.
Treasurer David Janetzki blamed the former Labor government for the ongoing affordability crunch, while also citing projections from the regulator that power bills in the state were forecast to fall 10 per cent.
He said this would deliver a saving of $1035 on average per household next year.
“Households remain under pressure, but our energy road map has shown that there are green shoots, and we’ll continue to work towards delivering more downwards pressure,” Janetzki told reporters on Monday.
Shadow treasurer Shannon Fentiman slammed the increase as a damning and deeply concerning statistic.
“Every one of them is a Queenslander or a family that cannot pay their power bills,” she said.
Fentiman said the government has not done enough to alleviate cost-of-living pressures since forming government in 2024.
“Things here in Queensland have gotten worse,” she said. “Cost-of-living is worse, health data is worse, housing is worse, and you just have to ask anyone about whether David Crisafulli’s crime slogan is working.
“Under the Crisafulli government we have a perfect storm of rising power bills, skyrocketing fuel prices, and a government that just doesn’t care.”
Amid the fuel crisis, hundreds of Brisbane commuters were left queueing on suburban streets on Monday morning waiting for buses, as scheduled rail closures bring further delays to popular public transport routes.
Janetzki blamed the CFMEU for the chaos, claiming closures were delayed by the union.
But Fentiman later said the opposition had warned of the impacts of closures for weeks, and the chaos was caused by ineffective planning of replacement buses.
“Quite frankly, this has nothing to do with industrial action,” she said. “This is an incompetent government that decided to shut down trains at one of the busiest times of the year and can’t organise replacement buses.”
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