Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australian industry and households do need affordable and reliable power. They do. We've heard that loud and clear. They also know that renewable energy is the cheapest form of power. It's the cheapest form of power. Don't take it from me and don't take it from the CSIRO, our peak scientific body; take it from the 4.1 million Australian households that have taken up rooftop solar—4.1 million households can't be wrong. This, paired with our most recent announcement on 1 July, making home batteries more affordable by cutting the cost of these batteries and installation by around 30 per cent, has led to an absolute surge of uptake of home batteries. Those 4.1 million households that now have rooftop solar are slapping on batteries at a rate that we have never seen. A few weeks ago, it was sitting at 30,000 households that have taken up this offer. It is now actually 41,000 households, 1,000 households a day.

And still the coalition are clinging on to coal and gas. I am surprised they haven't brought a piece of coal into this chamber. I am surprised, because they're still debating about the science of climate change. Meanwhile, the Australian people have moved on. They have left them in the dust in the rear-view mirror. A great emphasis that that has happened was at the May 2025 election and also at the 2022 election, when I took one of their Liberal seats.

That's not all we are doing to help Australians save money. We also cut the taxes on electric vehicles in our first term of office. When we first came to office, electric vehicle sales were flat, moribund, stuck at around two per cent. We introduced tax breaks and saw uptake increase, increase, increase. Electric vehicle sales are currently sitting at 13 per cent of new car sales, and we have around 300,000 pure battery electric vehicles on the road today. Australians have electric vehicles, rooftop solar and now home batteries. You can see how the dots are all lining up and joining up to save Australians money and to reduce our emissions.

Those opposite use the phrase, 'Net zero is good for the economy,' as a statement of derision. We see it as absolutely central to the liveability of this planet but also central to our future prosperity. I speak to those children up there, rather than those opposite, who have absolutely abandoned those children, the future generations of this country by still fighting over the concept of climate science in their party room. To those children I say: your prosperity will depend on Australia becoming a renewable energy superpower. It is within grasp.

When we first came to government, we set a target of 82 per cent renewable energy by 2030. We are within striking distance. We came in to clean up the Liberal legacy, the mess of our energy system. Where four gigawatts went in, one gigawatt went out. Do you know how many gigawatts we have ushered in since we came to power in 2022? Has it been three, four, five, 10? Does anyone know? It is 18 gigawatts into our grid, enough to power six million households. By the way, children up in the gallery, that is Victoria and New South Wales combined.

But that's not all. We've also introduced what is called the Capacity Investment Scheme. It's designed to attract investment into Australia for large-scale solar and wind, backed by large-scale batteries. We have pledged 40 gigawatts to enter the system. We recently upped that ceiling to 40 by 2027. That is attracting overwhelming interest from overseas companies. (Time expired)