Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In Melbourne, the community is taking charge of moving our great city to renewable energy, but they deserve more support from government. Given the climate denial and failure of leadership on global warming from the Abbott government, action at the state and local level is all the more important in the fight for clean energy. Unfortunately, in my state of Victoria we have a government and an opposition that are not up to the task of transitioning Victoria to a clean energy economy. One of the first acts of the current Victorian Liberal government was to give in to the flat-earthers who oppose wind energy and put in place restrictive and anti-competitive regulations that almost killed investment in wind power in our state.

Meanwhile, both Labor and the government seem intent on tying Victoria to a future of coal. At the same time, both of the old parties are failing to put forward credible and viable policies to support the continued growth of solar power that is sweeping across the country. In fact, just this week the Victorian Liberal government is backing the owner of Hazelwood Power Station, Australia's dirtiest, and the site of the recent coalmine fire, who is hitting solar households with additional fixed charges as a way of discouraging the take-up of rooftop solar. Victoria has had 19,000 new solar installations in the last six months, including many in my electorate, and this is despite the state Liberal government's cut in support. The old power companies do not like rooftop solar because it reduces demand, especially at peak times when they rake in superprofits, so they are trying to put up financial barriers to consumers. But it is not just cost. Many consumers report that existing retailers make it very hard to get their rooftop solar up and running because of the many administrative hoops they have to jump through.

Unlike the old parties, the Greens and Ellen Sandell have clear policies to support homeowners to join the solar revolution. Our plan includes a fair price for solar. We would continue the existing feed-in tariffs and all future solar installations would earn the owner a guaranteed minimum price. Secondly would be the right to go solar. No energy company should have the power to deprive Victorians of their right to go solar.

The Greens would introduce a law for the right to connect solar to the grid. And we would provide access to solar capital. The Greens would establish a clean energy fund, which would mean no up-front costs, and households would be able to pay for their panels through their bills or at low interest.

I know constituents in Melbourne want to see homes, businesses and schools, as well as sporting venues, powered by solar. They want governments to stand up for energy consumers not the big power companies. But they are not waiting. In my electorate of Melbourne, communities are getting together to look at how they can empower renters and other citizens to establish community energy, and I want to commend the work of Melbourne community power in leading these initiatives in Melbourne. Under the Greens, people in Melbourne who want solar power would get a huge boost.