Australians will die as a result of "crippling" electricity costs, federal parliament has been told.
The Senate debated a private bill by Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm on Thursday proposing to make electricity GST-free.
"We will never know just how many deaths this winter can be attributed to unaffordable electricity but the number would be substantial," Senator Leyonhjelm said, warning more deaths would occur this summer.
His bill was defeated after the government and Labor voted against it.
Treasurer Scott Morrison ruled out the proposal, warning it would cost the states $2 billion a year that would need to come from somewhere else.
"Creating a tax merry-go-round like that where it's ... given away on one hand and taken back on another, I think it's a bit of smoke and mirrors," he told ABC radio.
Senator Leyonhjelm said household power bills had risen about eight per cent each year over the past decade and 20 per cent over the past quarter alone.
Crippling power bills were "the greatest moral challenge of our time", he said.
"Thousands of households will go without cooling this summer and more deaths will be the result.
"I challenge those who feel morally superior when they cheer for policies that make electricity more expensive to acknowledge these deaths. I challenge them to acknowledge their role in these deaths."
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