Sam Lim (Tangney, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. What are the opportunities of acting on climate change? Are there any risks to acting on climate change, and what would not acting mean for Australia's economy?

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank my honourable friend for the question. He asked about the opportunities of acting on climate change, and those opportunities are there for the country and they're there for Australia's households and businesses and farmers. Australians are taking up those opportunities every day.

Households are taking up that opportunity every day, and there is a bit of a milestone to share with the House. I can tell the House that, as of today, 80,005 Australians households have installed a cheaper home battery under the Albanese government's cheaper home battery policy. It's been a while since we sat, so I will give the House a bit of an update. It remains a regional and suburban story. Australians in regional Australia and the suburbs are taking up the Albanese government's cheaper home batteries policy. I won't go through every state, but in New South Wales we have a new leader. The member for Richmond now has more, cheaper home batteries than anybody else, but she's closely followed by the members for Page and Riverina, with the member for Gilmore coming in fourth. So right across regional New South Wales people are embracing the opportunities of net zero. In Western Australia, I also have an update. There's one particular Western Australian member everyone is talking about. He's got a great CV and an even better future. He's widely regarded as one of the parliament's better-looking members. I refer, of course, to the member for Tangney, who has the highest take-up in Western Australia of any member of parliament when it comes to cheaper home batteries. This is households, businesses and farmers taking up the opportunities.

Of course, farmers come up in this conversation a lot—as they should. On this side of the House, we believe that farmers, who know their land so well and are so expert in creating wealth out of that land, should be given the opportunity to seize these opportunities. Every farmer who has a wind farm or solar farm is paid for having it. No wind farm or solar farm is installed in Australia without the consent and full agreement of the landholder. We know that, between now and 2030, about $1 billion in payments will be made to farmers for hosting that infrastructure and, between now and 2050, it will be up to $8 billion in payments. If you don't believe in climate change, you cannot seize the opportunity.

The member for Flynn was asked, 'Have you as a federal parliamentarian ever been given empiric or scientific evidence that proves climate change?' and he said, 'No, I can assure you it does not exist.' This is the alternative government of Australia in 2025. They don't believe in the science of climate change. If you don't believe in climate change, you can't seize the opportunity. He's one of the more moderate members among those opposite. But, if you do not understand the challenges of modern Australia, you are not fit to be the government of Australia.