Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. This government is fully committed to Australia’s solar industry and will remain so. Furthermore, the measures outlined in this budget ensure the sustainability of a solar industry for the long term and address those issues which the former government had not addressed in terms of the delivery of this particular program. I say to the member opposite: this government will bring forward a commitment of some half a billion dollars for Solar Schools, a commitment which will include the delivery of solar panels to Solar Schools, a commitment which was not present in the policies of the former government.

This government will bring forward a commitment to Solar Cities, an additional commitment on top of the commitment provided by the former government. I will point out to the members opposite that the government brought forward spending for this particular program—some $25 million was brought forward to the $150 million outlay. If this program had continued in the way in which it was constructed previously, it was agreed by both industry parties and others that it was overheating. We are producing a policy solution which will deliver sustainable growth and we are in close contact with the solar industry. We will monitor this program closely and we have every expectation that this program with the commitment of $150 million over three years, as opposed to $150 million over five years—

See this speech in context