One of the more frustrating aspects of energy policy is that it begins and ends with electricity prices and the over-arching issue of climate change is a side issue

The government has clearly decided that electricity prices is its key message for the next three years – and as a result the prime minister has ensured the policy debate will be biased towards climate change denial and will continue to treat Australians as idiots.

When the prime minister let fly against Bill Shorten in parliament last week, amid the personal attacks, the only policy areas he broached were company tax and energy prices. Pointedly, energy price was the first issue that came to him after he told his jokes about Shorten dining with Dick Pratt.

Related: Hard facts unmask the fiction behind Coalition’s ‘coal comeback’ | Lenore Taylor

Related: On climate change and the economy, we’re trapped in an idiotic netherworld | Greg Jericho

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