Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) household electrification policies can significantly reduce Australia's carbon emissions, its reliance on fossil fuels, and household energy bills by thousands of dollars each year;

(b) such policies are most effective when accompanied by support for household solar and battery systems and electric vehicles; and

(c) Australia is well-positioned to be a world leader in benefitting from decarbonisation, through the export of green energy as well as the technology and services to facilitate the clean energy transition; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) take the lead on driving household electrification by rolling out low interest loans and tailored support for low-income households that help to overcome the upfront capital costs of electrification;

(b) work with state and territory governments to urgently improve the regulatory infrastructure necessary for integrating greater electrification into our energy system; and

(c) provide additional support to community-led organisations which are facilitating electrification and other climate transition programs.

The average home in Australia that is powered by fossil fuels costs around $5,300 a year to run and, in doing so, produces nearly 10,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide. When you add that all together, it means households contribute more than 40 per cent of Australia's carbon emissions. Almost all of this comes from the machines in our daily lives: the petrol cars, the gas stoves and the fossil fuel power plants that supply most of our electricity. This dependence on fossil fuels is hurting our planet, and, as we are seeing right now, it's hurting our hip pockets too. Many families across Australia are in a never-ending struggle to pay their power bills, with gas prices skyrocketing because of the war in Ukraine.

The silver lining of this fossil fuel price crisis is that Australian sunshine hasn't got any more expensive. In fact, rooftop solar in Australia is the cheapest home energy available in the entire world. It is so cheap that even a magic power plant providing energy for free would not beat it on price. That's because sending energy over power lines is more expensive than energy that comes off your roof. This means we can reduce our emissions and reduce our power bills through electrification of our households, supercharged by renewable energy. Best of all, the technology we need to achieve this is available today. We already have access to high-quality rooftop solar which can deliver electricity at an average of just three cents per kilowatt. We already have electric cooktops which can replace expensive and polluting gas stoves. We already have household batteries and electric vehicles, which can provide all the power we need when the sun isn't shining. Even before this fossil fuel crisis, the economic benefits of electrifying our households, improving insulation and powering our lives with Australian sunshine were clear.

In Wentworth alone, electrification means the average household could save over $3,000 per year on home and vehicle costs by 2030. It means community organisations that install rooftop solar, like the Holdsworth centre in Woollahra, which recently put on rooftop solar, can spend less on power bills and more on delivering services like child care, dementia support and NDIS advice to the people who need it most. Our friends overseas have already realised this opportunity. In the United States, the landmark Inflation Reduction Act is accelerating the adoption of efficient all-electric appliances in homes throughout America. In the European Union, the Fit for 55 package includes a directive that all new building should be zero emissions by 2030. In the UK, the Heat and Buildings Strategy will decarbonise all homes, commercial premises and government buildings by 2050.

For too long, Australia has been a laggard on climate policy. Below cost rooftop solar makes it possible for us to lead the world when it comes to electrification. To achieve this, we need governments to make it easier for people to get off expensive gas and to electrify their homes with renewables. We need to make it easier to overcome the upfront costs of these technologies and realise the benefits of cheaper energy in the long term. We need to make it easier to insulate our homes so that we use less energy in the first place. That is why this weekend, I'm bringing together our state MPs, local councils and the Smart Energy Council as part of Wentworth's first ever climate summit. At the summit, residents will hear from local and industry experts to explore technologies, products and lifestyle changes needed to electrify their homes, save on their power bills and power Wentworth to net zero.

Local action is critical, but alone it will not be enough. That is why I'm calling on the federal government to take a leadership role. That means working with state and territory governments to get the regulatory framework right, through measures like renewable energy storage targets and strong national energy efficiency and emissions standards for rental properties. It means support for lower income households to electrify and insulate through bulk retrofit of public and social housing, and a national program of low-interest loans for home energy upgrades. It means supporting community led organisations which are facilitating electrification and other climate transition programs, and it means getting more batteries on wheels into households across Australia via the National Electric Vehicle Strategy, which must include strong fuel efficiency standards that reflect a phase-out of new internal combustion engine sales by 2035 at the latest. Household electrification is a massive opportunity to save on our power bills and to save the planet. Let's not waste it.

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Wentworth for the opportunity to speak on electrification and the role the federal government can play in encouraging electrification of our households, because we know that the role of electrification of our households is incredibly important to mitigate the climate crisis and to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. It will also help lower the cost of everyone's energy bills, which is incredibly important. These are established facts. This is something we can achieve not only here in Australia but right across the world. And there are added benefits. It simplifies construction by just having one source of energy going into a home. It also reduces maintenance costs, helps quieten households and creates scores and scores of jobs in the construction and energy creation industries.

When I was having a chat to some people in my community about this over the weekend—and again I thank the member for moving motion up—I found that a lot of people don't really understand what the benefits of electrification are and how it will help diversify our energy needs. Rather than just relying upon gas or coal for heating—we've got gas cooktops, gas-fired solar heaters and, of course, central heating—by electrifying those household appliances, we can actually diversify the energy that we need to power those things. When the gas prices spike, as we see at the moment, we can switch to the cheapest and most abundant form of energy we have at the moment, being renewables.

Having one source of power go into a household and power everything means that we're not exposed to these international shocks in energy prices across the world. Cheaper energy prices are one of the main motivators to electrify everything, and electrification also enables us to reduce emissions, which is incredibly important. Renewable energy is a huge part of the electrification of households. It applies to transport—anywhere between 18 and 25 per cent of a household's emissions are created by transport alone. If we electrify bus networks and our own personal transport, that will mean that emissions are reduced.

Thankfully, we finally have a government that understands this. If you look to the former government, you see that they had 10 years of division and delay. Even the Leader of the Opposition's budget reply speech still seemingly ridiculed the role that renewable energy can play in our economy and in reducing emissions across the nation. We have a government that gets electrification and understands its importance and is also delivering policies that will help us achieve it. We look to our magnificent community battery program, with over 400 community batteries funded and $224 million committed in the budget. I am very proud to confirm that one of those community batteries will be in our community in North Epping. What these community batteries can do is encourage people to not only get solar but, for those who have solar, store that excess power that they don't use during the day, in the community battery, to then use at night. It reduces the cost for an individual to get a battery at each home. A 500-megawatt-hour battery will help about 250 households power their home with cheap, emissions-free renewable technology.

We are so excited to be able to roll this out as part of the Albanese government. I know many members are very happy that some community batteries were committed to during the election campaign, but of course there are many, many, many more to be rolled out through ARENA and through working with community groups. I know the community in Bennelong are incredibly excited to be able to participate in one of the first. Hopefully, we will see that policy kickstart a battery revolution in our communities right across the nation, because we know that technology will not only help the grid but also help reduce emissions.

We know that the government is pushing a national EV strategy and an electric vehicle superhighway of chargers. These are all incredibly important investments. We finally have a government that gets it—a government that is keen to reduce emissions through electrification.

Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wentworth for this motion and I strongly support it. Household electrification is something we must talk more of. The largest portion of our domestic emissions comes from our households—42.2 per cent—then it is businesses and, of course, industry. But almost all of these emissions in our households come from energy—the machines in our daily lives such as petrol cars, gas heaters, gas water heaters, gas stoves and the fossil fuel power plants supplying most of Australia's grid network electricity. Electrification of households, homes, cars and businesses is the key to reducing our emissions. It's how we will have the biggest impact on climate this decade. The frustrating part is that we have the technology. This is not something we need to wait for. It is all there; it's the low-hanging fruit. We just need to find the political will to roll it out at scale.

So let's look to households' energy use in more detail. What does electrification mean? We need to move from fossil-fuel powered to electric and replace every appliance machine as it nears its end of life, with heat pumps for hot water, heat pumps combined with reverse cycle air conditioning for space heating and cooling, induction cooking in the kitchen and, of course, electric cars for transport.

The savings are huge. Based on the calculations by Saul Griffith's Rewiring Australia, each household can save nearly $3,500 per year, which is $34,500 over the 10-year lifetime of appliances, by going electric. At the moment, in the absolute crisis of cost of living, it should be an absolute No. 1 priority to transition as many households as possible and in particular lower socioeconomic households that are struggling with power prices and the cost of living.

There's a considerable upfront cost; there's no denying this. And many households are not able to do that. So we need to supply low- or zero-cost loans for this transition, especially for households on lower incomes. To fully electrify Australian homes, an investment of some $12 billion is needed over five years in Australian homes and vehicles, but this would reap $300 billion in household savings by 2035. This is huge, and the benefits are clear. Individuals will save thousands of dollars a year and be protected from fossil fuel costs that are spiralling out of control. We would absolutely be insured against the geopolitical influences that impact energy costs. We would immediately reduce our carbon emissions and fulfil more ambitious climate targets. We'd reduce air pollution and ensure energy security for our country—that is, no dependence on overseas oil. In a similar way, Australian businesses will profit from this transition to all-electric, and they need to be supported.

Of course, transition from gas and oil powered appliances and machines will lead to an increased demand for electricity, so we will have to decarbonise the grid at the same time. So we need to decrease demand to as low as possible, but we also need to focus on energy efficiency measures to reduce that demand. For that, we need to incentivise energy efficiency measures through zero-cost loans and subsidies. It can be things like LED lighting, insulation or appliances with higher star ratings. These are all low-hanging fruits that we absolutely can do. There are many in the electorate of Warringah working on this, such as companies like Emerald Planet in Brookvale and so many more. They are looking at electrifying so many of our local businesses. Australia is so well placed to meet this increased demand for renewables with our abundant solar and wind. We absolutely need to support solar PV and protect the rights of solar owners and go further and incentivise all households and businesses that can install solar and batteries.

Of course, storage is a major issue and that is why, early in 2023, I'll be introducing a private member's bill to make sure that we set an energy storage target. We must do this to incentivise and drive investment. There are many storage solutions that can be achieved through a renewable energy storage target that includes home batteries and electric car batteries with vehicle-to-grid technology. This would be a game changer because it would make batteries on wheels of our transport. There are currently very few vehicle-to-grid trials and the rollout across Australia needs to be accelerated. We have access to about 20 million car batteries once all vehicles are transitioned. The opportunities are really incredible, and local groups like Solar Alliance Brookvale are doing amazing work in Warringah, as many others are around the country. I urge the government: electrify everything.

Alison Byrnes (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wentworth for moving this motion and allowing me to highlight the vast amount of work that the Albanese Labor government is already doing in this space. We have committed in our budget to expand the Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards program, as well as the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme. Energy demand-side actions and performance improvements can help to reduce energy waste, accelerate the uptake of new technology and relieve cost-of-living pressures on consumers. They also help to deliver our key policy commitments, like the Powering Australia plan, and our emissions reduction targets. Our expansion of home energy ratings will improve residential building minimum standards and support improvements in the energy performance of Australia's housing.

I agree with the member for Wentworth that household electrification policies are most effective when a company buys solar and battery systems for electric vehicles. That is why the government is taking the lead on driving household electrification by committing $224.3 million in the budget to support 400 community batteries to store excess energy from rooftop solar generation. One of these batteries will be in Warrawong, in my electorate, which is one of the lowest socioeconomic areas. This is a great win for people in Warrawong, delivering lower electricity bills and reducing emissions. We have also committed $100 million for the community solar banks program, which will support 25,000 households to access the benefits of community scale solar, rooftop solar and clean energy technologies.

But we're not stopping at households. Our National Electric Vehicle Strategy is bringing state and territory governments, industry, unions and consumers together to bring Australia up to speed when it comes to modern road transport technology. We want to make sure that our infrastructure and our industries are ready to support the transition to electric vehicles. Our Driving the Nation Fund doubles the Commonwealth's investment in EV infrastructure, including charging and refuelling stations. Investments under this fund will create a national EV charging network and a national expansion of hydrogen highways. Our policies finally bring Australia into the modern age, reducing power bills, reducing our emissions and improving access to new technologies. Our government knows the potential Australia has in a decarbonising world. Minister Bowen said it best when he stated: 'The world's climate emergency is Australia's job opportunity.' We can be a renewable energy superpower, exporting renewable energy while using it domestically.

I recently had the opportunity to meet in my electorate office with another well-known proponent of electrification: Saul Griffith. Saul is a former energy adviser to the White House and the founder and chief scientist at Rewiring America. After playing a key role in the recent passing of the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States of America, Saul is now focusing his efforts back home with Rewiring Australia. Rewiring Australia is looking to create the country's first electric community, with the pilot program, Electrify 2515, in the suburb of Thirroul in the north of my electorate.

With greater investment in the renewable and clean energy space, it is vital that we foster our workforce to grow alongside it. That is why the Albanese Labor government is investing in education and training to equip our current and future workers with the skills they need. I am proud that our government is doing just that—in particular, with two commitments in my electorate in the Illawarra. The first is an energy future skills centre at the University of Wollongong, and I've also secured a renewable energy training facility at Wollongong TAFE.

I respect the intent behind this motion, but it does appear to ignore the actions our government is already taking. We are taking the lead on driving household electrification, particularly for low-income households. Around 500 households in Warrawong, a suburb with some of the most vulnerable people, will benefit from the Labor government's investment in a community battery. Households that wouldn't be able to access clean energy technologies will be supported to gain the benefits of rooftop solar and other technologies, helping them to overcome the upfront capital costs of electrification.

We are working with state and territory governments to urgently improve the regulatory infrastructure, enabling greater electrification of our energy system. One example of this is the Marinus Link, which is part of our Rewiring the Nation plan, a nation-changing infrastructure project. Our government knows the opportunities that decarbonisation offers our country and, unlike the previous government, we are jumping on those opportunities. Electrification is a major aspect of this, and our policies are driving the change needed for lower electricity bills and lower emissions.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next setting.