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

HAINES () (): by leave—I wish to thank the member for Fairfax for tabling the report on my Australian Local Power Agency Bill. I'd also like to recognise the dedicated and fair-minded approach that the member for Fairfax has brought to this role in overseeing the committee work and inquiry into my bill.

The Australian Local Power Agency Bill 2021 was born in Indi, and my electorate is leading the nation in the renewable energy transition. We have around a dozen community energy groups already, and, in fact, this Saturday I'll formally be launching the new Myrtleford community power group. These groups, led by hardworking volunteers, have installed solar power on CFA's, health centres, hospitals, low-income housing and kindergartens. They've built community batteries and they've built mini grids, and in doing so they strengthen their communities. They're not waiting for the government to fix their problems. They're not waiting for big companies to come in and build things for them. They're everyday regional people getting on with it and building renewables themselves.

Throughout 2020 I met with these groups right across my electorate and invited submissions from all across the country. Our goal was simple: we wished to design a policy framework at the federal level to support the incredible work in community renewables that was already taking place right across regional Australia, and the outcome of that process was the Local Power Plan. The Local Power Plan sketched out an ambitious vision to make regional Australia home to the best renewable energy industry and to harness the power that industry has to deliver a generation of prosperity for everyday regional Australian people. To do that, the Local Power Plan proposed three things.

First, the Local Power Plan proposed a new program of funding and technical support to help communities to develop their own projects. It's abundantly clear that, if we want all our regional sporting clubs and hospitals and community organisations to access the benefits of cheap, clean, reliable renewables, we need more funding and we need technical support on the ground to help make these projects happen. Second, the Local Power Plan proposed a mechanism to attract investment. Many communities around the country want to develop their own locally owned midscale solar farms and batteries, but to do that they need to attract investment. The government already has a scheme to underwrite investment in commercial projects. Community projects deserve the same treatment. Third, the Local Power Plan said we need a way for regional communities to share in the economic benefits of large-scale renewable projects. Too often we see these large-scale commercial projects being built without delivering their full potential to regional Australia. We need to be seeing more local jobs and new sources of income for local people, and the profits shouldn't just flow to the cities or offshore.

While it stops short of recommending the establishment of a new agency for regional Australia, this committee report, tabled today, recognises that regional Australia needs these three things. On funding and technical support, the committee report finds:

… that existing grant and investment mechanisms do not adequately support projects in regional Australia …

and that the government should look at how it can provide:

… properly resourced technical assistance, delivered through ARENA, for community groups in regional Australia that wish to develop their own community energy projects.

On investment, the committee report finds the government should look to:

… establish a dedicated mechanism for small communities and community energy organisations—

to attract investment. And on large-scale benefits sharing, the committee:

… acknowledges a desire in regional communities to see more local benefits from large scale energy projects.

This is the first time that an Australian government has recognised the need for serious reform to put proper investment behind community energy. Now, certainly there are gaps. The committee report accepts that stronger support for community energy would deliver real benefits for regional Australia and that reform is needed, but the road map to reform is now in the hands of the government. The government's response to this report should implement the three core planks of the Local Power Plan. The government should commit $300 million to set up a dedicated local power fund within ARENA to support these community energy projects, and couple that financial support with a nationwide system of community power hubs to provide that on-the-ground technical support. The government should set up a dedicated mechanism to attract private sector investment into locally owned renewables projects. And the government should develop, and publish, its own proposal to enhance local benefit sharing from large-scale renewable energy projects. To get all of this done, we need a top to bottom review of ARENA to identify the best way to place regional Australia at the centre of its remit, not as an afterthought.

When I first came to parliament just a few years ago, I committed to fighting for policies that will back the regions to seize the opportunities of renewable energy, and as long as I'm here I'll continue to fight for these recommendations to be delivered because the regions simply cannot, and must not, be left behind in the renewable energy transition. We need a plan to make renewable energy the next wool boom, the next gold rush. I've got such a plan. A cross-party committee has endorsed its fundamental elements. Now it's on the government to take it up, and I truly, truly encourage them to do so.

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