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

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. How is the Albanese Labor government getting on with the job of building cleaner, cheaper energy? Why is focusing on the needs of Australian families important, and what are the risks to delivering the reliable, fair and modern energy grid Australians deserve?

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. As a fierce advocate for cheaper and more reliable renewable energy, I'm happy to give the member for Bennelong and the House a progress report since we last sat. We've seen the December quarter figures. We saw record energy demand in Australian history in the December quarter, and we saw the grid cope very well. We saw 24 gigawatts worth of demand, and, because of renewables hitting 51 per cent for the first time in Australian history, the grid coped well—52 per cent in Western Australia. NEM, National Energy Market, emissions are the lowest they've ever been, and it is no coincidence that wholesale prices were down 44 per cent in the quarter. Renewables are up, reliability is up, prices are down and emissions are down, and that is no coincidence.

An important part of that story is home batteries. I'm pleased to report to the House that we have now installed 218,023 home batteries. As I've said to the House before, this is very much a rural, regional and outer suburban story. Taking some electorates at random, the member for Hume is doing very well. In his electorate, we've seen 2,404 home batteries installed, which is more than the electorates of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane combined—in the electorate of Hume. He's way ahead of the member for Farrer on numbers. In Farrer, we've seen 1,862 home batteries installed, which is good but behind the member for Hume. He's also in front of the member for Canning on 1,986 batteries. The member Canning has conceded he's unlikely to take top spot when it comes to batteries.

In the National Party, I'm pleased to report the member for Flynn has beaten the member for Maranoa for the first time this week on 1,128 batteries, compared to the member for Maranoa's 922 batteries. But perhaps reports of a comeback by the member for Riverina have something in them, because he's blitzing it with 2,390 batteries in the Riverina. I was pleased to visit Wagga Wagga before Christmas to visit some of those batteries. In New South Wales, the member for Mitchell has been very busy on the numbers. We've seen Mitchell instal 2,889 batteries—the highest number in New South Wales. I was pleased to visit the Litchfields with the Attorney-General just a couple of weeks ago. They are very pleased with their home battery. He's in front of the member for Lindsay, who also has good numbers. The member for Lindsay has expressed an aspiration to lead, but she's got some catching up to do. She's installed 1,592 batteries in Lindsay, which I read is about 1,591 more than leadership votes she would have in any proposed ballot.

While those opposite concentrate on rolling each other, we continue to concentrate on rolling out batteries, rolling out renewable energy and rolling out cheaper, more reliable energy, because that's what the Australian people want.