Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) commends the Government for its $500 million Battery Breakthrough Initiative that will give Australian businesses access to capital grants and production incentives through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA);

(2) recognises:

(a) that this latest piece of the Future Made in Australia represents a commitment to the growth of our national battery manufacturing industry which is essential to our future energy independence, affordability and our sovereign capabilities;

(b) that batteries are essential to all aspects of modem life both in Australia and abroad, and that securing jobs in this growing sector is a race with global competition; and

(c) the urgent need to progress Australian industry up the manufacturing value chain to lock in our place in the global energy economy and make the most of our comparative advantages in resources and renewables;

(3) further commends:

(a) the Government for its commitment to consultation in designing this scheme alongside ARENA, with stakeholders in industry for maximum impact; and

(b) Australian industry and researchers for driving the move towards a clean energy future even before they had a partner in Canberra; and

(4) calls on the Opposition to:

(a) support the Government's commitment to local manufacturing and securing the Australian jobs of the future; and

(b) cease its attempts to distract from and derail the global push to reduce emissions as it is out of step with the national interest and decreases certainty for businesses.

I rise today as the mover of this motion to commend the Albanese Labor government's $500 million Battery Breakthrough Initiative. This a vital step, one of many, in picking up the pace for the Future Made in Australia race. It is one step closer, as we move in the right direction towards our goal of setting the National Battery Strategy.

This ambitious target for 2035 is about Australia becoming a globally competitive producer of batteries and battery materials. This will leverage our natural advantages—our abundant critical minerals below the ground and our abundant renewable energy above the ground—and, of course, our skilled people. Building future export industries and strengthening our economic resilience, this initiative supports that goal by investing in manufacturing capability, innovation and workforce development.

In my first speech, I described to the House the six steps required to make a battery: first, mining the raw materials; then processing the materials; then, of course, manufacturing the battery components; assembling those components; and, finally, installation and maintenance. I spoke with the hope that, if we could do all six of these steps, including manufacturing, it would help create a competitive export industry as well as high-quality jobs. This initiative will provide targeted funding to help manufacturers produce high-value battery products and scale up operations.

I'm pleased to say that Australian companies actually have form already in this exciting space—for example, Feline Industries, which is solving battery safety challenges for the defence and maritime sectors. We have Sicona, with their breakthrough new materials that increase both the driving range and charging speed of electric vehicles. Then we have Gelion, producing non-flammable zinc-bromide batteries ideal for remote, hot environments. Non-flammable battery chemistries are needed to improve safety in Australian heat. This was explored during the electric vehicle inquiry. Gelion received $4.8 million in ARENA funding, with around matched funding to support their advanced commercial prototyping centres.

We are proud to be backing companies like this. New industry will create value and share it better than ever. The initiative applies community benefit principles to ensure that investment reaches local communities, ensuring private and public investment flows to create real jobs right here in Australia. It promotes inclusive workforce development, supporting First Nations employment, gender equality and regional transition opportunities.

Whether you want to call it stepping up, tooling up or powering up—either way, we are acting because we want to compete in the global supply chain. As these companies show, projects must demonstrate their readiness for deployment with technologies at TRL 6 or higher. That means that the system process has a prototype demonstrating itself in an operational environment as the minimum. We are backing scalable, real-world solutions that reduce emissions and grow the economy.

For those supposed competition hawks on the other side—they always forget one of the economic keys to competition, and that is the flow of information and data. All funded projects will be required to share data insights, which will help accelerate innovation across the sector. Australia doesn't have to be the biggest manufacturing sector, but we can damn well try to be the smartest. This is a government that believes that, when Aussies put their heads together, we can solve problems with the best of them. This collaborative approach builds a stronger, faster, smarter and better industry.

We're doing this because there is a race in the decarbonised economy. This is a race, and we're all in it together to win it—but will we? The opposition continues to undermine renewables. They can't support clean energy because of ideological purposes. They can't tell the difference between the nation's interests and the National Party's interests. They have confined themselves to the bench in the game of the century. When they're not fighting amongst themselves, they're sending the member for New England out as a distracting mascot.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Mrs Marino:

Another day, another big-spending program from the Albanese government. I rise this evening to express my strong opposition to the federal government's proposal to subsidise home battery systems across Australia. Those opposite might dress this policy up in noble terms, but the reality is that this is putting lipstick on a pig of a policy. It's a pig of a policy because it's inequitable. It clearly favours the relatively wealthy and does nothing to further the energy affordability and reliability that our national prosperity depends upon.

Let us begin with the economic reality. Home battery systems remain prohibitively expensive for most Australians. Even with these subsidies, the upfront costs can exceed $10,000 per household. This is a significant burden, particularly for Australian families already grappling with rising living costs, mortgage stress, rental stress and inflation. The government's plan effectively asks Australian taxpayers—many of whom can't afford these battery systems themselves—to foot the bill for wealthier households to install batteries. That is not equity; that is redistribution in reverse. Moreover, the return on investment for these systems is questionable. Studies show that, even with generous rebates, the payback period for a home battery can stretch beyond a decade and, in many cases, the batteries will need replacing before they've paid for themselves. That is not a prudent use of taxpayer money. It's also not the first time that we've seen this movie.

In the first phase of large-scale growth in rooftop solar, lavish feed-in tariff schemes across the country introduced between 2008 and 2011 encouraged some 1.4 million households to install panels on their roofs. That was the highest proportion of households of any country, sure. But, according to the Grattan Institute—and the Grattan Institute is hardly a rabid right-wing think tank—state governments began winding back the schemes in 2012. By the time the last of these runs out in 2028, they will have cost the Australian economy some $9 billion. Worse, people who chose not to install solar or who simply couldn't afford it will have paid for the schemes through these subsidies to those who could install the panels worth an eye-watering $14 billion.

These numbers expose the folly of these big-spending government programs that Labor are addicted to. Every time a Labor government decides to shovel billions of taxpayer dollars into a new energy scheme, the economic costs exceed the benefits, there are unintended consequences in terms of market distortion and we end up wondering why we didn't just wait for the technology to mature and become financially viable in the first place.

We also need some honesty around the environmental implications of this. While batteries can support renewable energy, their production is resource intensive. Mining for lithium and other critical rare-earth metals carries significant environmental and social costs, which are often opposed by members of this very government. Remember the McPhillamys gold mine, a $1 billion shovel-ready project whose approval was cancelled at five minutes to midnight because they wanted to appease a small group of noisy agitators. If we're serious about sustainability in this country, we need to consider the full life cycle of these technologies, not just their benefits at the point of use.

My main concern with energy policy under this government in Australia is that nobody is being honest with the Australian people about the trajectory of energy prices in real terms. I'm not just talking about the Prime Minister and his 98-times promised $275 savings on power bills that have, in fact, transformed into households being worse off by more than $1,200 a year. My issue is that even those who support the government agenda, like the Clean Energy Council, told me last week in this very building that power prices will continue to rise, even with the billions that this government is shovelling into its renewable-only fantasy. I find it simply unfathomable that this government is pushing forward with a policy that is economically inefficient, socially inequitable and environmentally questionable. Let us pursue energy reform that is fair, affordable and grounded in sound policy, not one that subsidises the wealthier few at the expense of the many hardworking Aussies whose kids will ultimately be lumped with the national debt from this madness.

Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It does not surprise me one iota that the member for Forrest does not support this motion. It doesn't surprise me, because this motion is fundamentally about two things. Firstly, it is about the creation of manufacturing jobs, and, secondly, it is about renewables and sustainability in our energy space. What we know about those opposite is that, in terms of manufacturing, at every opportunity they have had, they have sent manufacturing jobs overseas. They have sent shipbuilding overseas and they have sent train manufacturing overseas. At every moment, every opportunity, every choice and every point, that is what they do.

The second point, in terms of renewables, is that we know that this is an opposition that despises renewables. We know that only weeks ago they said at the LNP convention up in Queensland, in my city of Brisbane, that they want to move away from net zero. It's because, when it comes to sustainability and climate change, those opposite are people who simply don't believe.

So I want to take the opportunity, in opening today, to really thank and congratulate the member for Swan for moving this motion. I'm pleased to have the opportunity today to talk about the Albanese Labor government's Battery Breakthrough initiative, a significant and forward-thinking investment that is a key part of building a future made in Australia.

But first I would like to acknowledge a battery on a local rather than a national scale. It's the upcoming launch of the community battery in my community in Moorooka. This is part of the Community Batteries for Household Solar program, which is installing 400 batteries across Australia. The batteries will store excess solar energy for households to use during peak times, and Southside residents will benefit from lower electricity bills, support to install rooftop solar and access to renewable energy.

Let's talk about the Battery Breakthrough initiative. It's worth $500 million and is one of the most significant investments in battery manufacturing in our history in this country. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency, ARENA, will administer the funding, providing access to capital grants and production incentives. The initiative was designed by a consultative progress with ARENA and industry stakeholders, ensuring it will be fit for purpose and have a positive impact.

In the manufacturing space, for many years I worked representing manufacturing workers, whether they were fitters and turners, boilermakers or working in the vehicle industry as vehicle builders—and we know that there aren't too many of them around anymore, because those opposite systematically moved their industry offshore and we lost jobs. But what we know in the manufacturing industry is that we have an opportunity to make things here again. We have an opportunity to make sure that, when we come up with ideas at universities and we drive technological advancement, we in this country can have the benefit of that scale-up. But we have to invest in the jobs, the skills and the industries that make that possible.

Australian researchers and companies are at the forefront of battery technologies, and showcasing that R&D excellence with practical industry application is what Labor is all about. We've been backing projects that firm supply chain resilience as well as contributing to emissions reduction. This combined focus benefits vital climate goals, as well as boosting economic growth. Companies such as Li-S Energy, based in Brisbane, and Sicona, in Wollongong, are collaborating with CSIRO, with universities and with Defence to help develop advanced battery components and systems.

The Battery Breakthrough initiative builds on Labor's $22.7 billion Future Made in Australia agenda, which includes major investments in solar, in hydrogen, in green iron, in aluminium and in critical minerals. What this motion is about at its core is what Labor believes in. We believe in a renewable energy future because it is cheaper, it is better, it is more resilient and it means that we have cheaper energy for everyone. What we believe as a Labor government is that we should make things in this country. In order to do that, we need initiatives that call out and drive the skills that we need to manufacture, and we need to back in renewable energy at every moment. That is what this motion calls for, and that is what Labor does every day.

Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion. While I acknowledge the intent behind the government's Battery Breakthrough initiative, I cannot support the suggestion that this policy will deliver the energy security and affordability that Australians so desperately need.

I am an engineer, an economist and a farmer, and I'm going to limit this address to facts and figures and to common sense, not to ideology. We must be honest with the Australian people. Batteries are not a replacement for baseload power. They are useful for short bursts of firming capacity when a cloud comes over the state and there is no solar, for gas peaking plants to spool up so that gas can run the grid. Batteries cannot drive heavy industry, nor can they replace the consistent, reliable power that our nation depends on. Yet the government continues to suggest that this initiative will reduce power prices. That is misleading.

Around the world there is no evidence that battery rollouts of this scale have reduced power prices for households or for industry. Australians also need to understand that energy demand from industry is four times greater than household demand. I repeat that: energy demand from industry is four times that of household demand. So, while a battery in your home may trim your power bill, it does nothing for the manufacturer down the road and even less for heavy industry. In my electorate of Grey, industries like the Whyalla steelworks and Port Pirie smelter are the backbone of our economy. These facilities require vast, reliable and around-the-clock energy. A few batteries scattered around the grid will not make steelmaking more viable in Whyalla. They will not make lead smelting in Port Pirie more competitive.

Large-scale energy storage is possible through pumped hydro, but Australia is one of the flattest continents on earth. We do not have the geography or indeed the water to rely on hydro in the way that other nations do. So South Australia, already 80 per cent renewable, has been forced to build generation capacity nearly five times greater than our average consumption. I repeat that: in my home state of South Australia we have generation capacity nearly five times average consumption. The result? South Australia has the highest power prices in Australia and, depending on how you measure it, the highest power prices in the world. This is not theoretical.

Right now in Whyalla there are seven serious domestic and international buyers considering investing $5 billion to $8 billion in the steelworks. They know the Commonwealth has put a $1.9 billion carrot on the table to support that transformation. But do you know what their single biggest concern is? Access to reliable and affordable energy. Whyalla is the best place in the world to be making steel. Just down the road we have a 100-year-long magnetite asset, we have road facilities, port facilities and rail facilities and we have an existing workforce that knows how to make steel. Today in South Australia the wholesale power price can go from minus $200 when we are overgenerating renewables to $2,000 when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shining. At those times, running the steelworks can cost $34,000 an hour in losses. This is not a pathway to investment certainty; it is a pathway to closure, and batteries will not change that fact.

Energy is a global marketplace. Our high power prices mean that we are losing opportunities that we should be winning, not just in heavy industry but in emerging sectors like artificial intelligence and advanced computing. Global companies are voting with their feet and investing elsewhere because energy in Australia is simply too expensive. When there is no wind or solar power, we import coal from Victoria. This problem will only worsen as Victoria's coal fired generation closes. South Australia, in particular, faces a stark future. Additionally, South Australia is the driest state on the driest continent. We will rely increasingly less on water from the Murray River and therefore increasingly more on desalinated water. But desalination plants, too, cannot run on intermittent power. They require baseload energy—continuous affordable and reliable. Without it we risk not only our industries but our very capacity to secure water for our regions.

The government's motion talks about sovereign capability, but true sovereignty in energy means building a system that can support both households and industry, that can attract local industry rather than repel it and that can provide water security to the communities that need it most.

Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Swan for bringing this motion and rise today to speak in support of the Albanese Labor government's vision for a future made in Australia and to highlight one of the most exciting new programs under that agenda, the Battery Breakthrough Initiative. A future made in Australia is about making sure that all Australians thrive in a changing world. It's about seizing the opportunities of the global clean energy transformation rather than letting them pass us by. It's about using the resources, the ingenuity and the skills we have right here at home to create the jobs and industries of the future.

Australia has abundant natural advantages. We have world-class deposits of critical minerals, unmatched renewable energy resources and outstanding research institutions, including, of course, right here in Canberra. Together they form the foundation of future export industries. But to secure these opportunities we need to make smart, strategic investments today. That's exactly what the Albanese government is doing. We are building a more resilient economy—one that ensures us against a changing geopolitical environment and protects us against global shocks.

In last year's budget, we committed nearly $23 billion to our Future Made in Australia agenda, and this investment is already transforming our industrial base. The $500 million Battery Breakthrough Initiative is part of that plan and will enable us to accelerate battery manufacturing here at home. Labor's National Battery Strategy sets a bold vision. By 2035 Australia will be a globally competitive producer of batteries and battery materials, delivering secure supply chains and affordable energy and creating secure, well-paid jobs. And it's backed by significant investment. We've already committed over $20 million for battery innovation, scale-up programs, best practice guidelines and workforce training. This includes support for the Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre and the Powering Australia Industry Growth Centre.

The Battery Breakthrough Initiative is one of the largest investments in Australian battery manufacturing capability to date. We're also ensuring this investment delivers on our climate commitments, by backing projects that not only strengthen supply chains but also contribute to emissions reduction. The Battery Breakthrough Initiative will also ensure that public and private investment flows to local communities, creating safe, secure and well-paid jobs. It promotes inclusive workforce development, supporting First Nations employment, gender equality and regional transition opportunities. Every funded project will also be required to share data and insights, building a collective knowledge base that benefits the whole industry and accelerates innovation.

The government's approach stands in stark contrast to those opposite. The coalition have never reckoned with the changing global landscape. They are happiest when they're talking Australian industry down. They spent a decade in government doing nothing to address our declining productivity, nothing to strengthen our sovereign capability and nothing to prepare Australia for a clean energy future. They cannot even agree on whether climate change is real, let alone put forward a serious plan to seize the opportunities of the global energy transformation. Their approach is one of complacency and neglect, leaving Australia underinvested and vulnerable to global shocks.

By contrast Labor is acting with urgency and ambition. We are building new industries, new jobs and new opportunities and securing our place in the global clean energy economy. We are ensuring that the benefits of this transformation are felt by communities across our country. Fundamentally, the Future Made in Australia agenda, with the Battery Breakthrough Initiative, is about people. It's about the workers in Port Kembla, in Geelong, in Brisbane, in Sydney and in regional towns across the country who will find new opportunities in the industries of the future. It's about the students in our universities who will help develop the next breakthroughs. It's about the communities who will benefit from cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy. This is what a future made in Australia looks like—a future where we not only mine the minerals but manufacture the products; a future where our economy is more resilient, our communities are stronger and our environment is safeguarded.

I am proud to be part of a government that is making this vision a reality.

Alison Penfold (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This government's latest step in its energy policy, the $500 million Battery Breakthrough Initiative to strengthen Australia's battery manufacturing capability, will succumb to the crunch of reality. Dressed up as part of the net zero mandate, it's also a big subsidy to industry, paid for by taxpayers. I wonder what the black-hat economists who made some comments about the $22 billion Future Made in Australia agenda—that it was picking winners and creating subsidy dependence—will think about this latest Albanese government initiative.

For my part, there's a problem in the government's stated intent to re-industrialise the economy with a focus on clean technologies. If we didn't have this headlong rush to renewables as base-load power and the subsequent higher electricity prices, we would not need to re-industrialise. Our industries would be alive, kicking goals and internationally competitive, rather than downsizing and looking to go offshore.

The member for Swan mentioned the national interest in her motion. Well, I think this rush to renewables as base-load power has not been in the national interest, as targets are not being met, costs keep climbing and businesses keep closing. When more people realise that their big power bills are due to the big cost of building a big new wind-and-solar-driven intermittent grid, their view will change. Yes, batteries have their place in households as a way for Australians to participate in reducing emissions and building their own energy independence. In this ambition, I acknowledge the initiative of the Bonny Hills Progress Association for their recent energy saving expo, which I attended. There was a lot of information for households on ways to reduce energy bills with a strong focus on electrification.

A lot of people talk to me about the need for Australia to participate in emissions reduction, but they also speak to me about the dilemma of how to achieve this—that is, this dilemma of pursuing emissions reduction and securing the means to continue to increase our living standards. Rather than address this dilemma, this government is trying to hoodwink the public into thinking that its net zero policy addresses climate change, creates jobs and supports a strong and resilient energy grid and economy. It simply doesn't. Government and indeed this parliament have an incredible responsibility to make sure we get our energy policy and all the other changes to other parts of industry in the economy calibrated to serve the best interests of Australia.

This government's energy policy also deserves scrutiny because this government wants you to believe that its renewables-only policy is the only way to reduce emissions, regardless of the cost and the negative impact on our living standards. The fact is that the race to reduce emissions varies around the world, and some other countries are pursuing real solutions to the dilemma of reducing emissions while maintaining and increasing living standards. Other countries have understood that building an industrial capable energy grid with intermittent power cannot do the job of providing permanent, reliable and affordable power. Look at Finland. It's achieving its net zero policy with nuclear power. France, the US, Japan, South Korea, the UK, Canada and Sweden are all using nuclear power as part of their net zero strategies. Other nations are expanding their use of nuclear energy, with another 20 countries moving to triple nuclear capacity by 2050—all in recognition of nuclear's low-carbon benefits in reducing greenhouse gases.

Every economy is powered by electricity, and industrial ones with abundant natural resources and a highly skilled workforce on an island continent like Australia need base-load power from energy dense sources, like nuclear, coal and gas. While batteries and intermittent power certainly have their place, they cannot provide the power that we need on all the time for our hospitals, industries and cities to function and avoid chaos. Australia and the Australian people will be at our strongest with an energy system underpinned by base-load power, produced by energy dense inputs. Energy dense inputs not only provide the cheapest form of electricity but also are gentler on our natural landscapes and rural communities.

My argument is for Australia both to be part of global emissions reduction and to have a strong, reliable and affordable energy system—one that supports heavy industry, high-tech industry and data centres, as well as our cities, sovereign manufacturing and defence capabilities. Renewables might deliver on the emissions reduction goal, but they do not deliver a strong, reliable and affordable energy system.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.