Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

Thirsty Chiefs is a small brewery in my electorate of Petrie that has been operating for seven years. It's a one-of-a-kind establishment brewing beer, cider and ginger beer, all in house, and employing local people. They host local musicians and food trucks every Friday and Saturday night, and support the wider community in North Lakes. In fact, many community organisations have held events there—organisations like Save the North Lakes Golf Course, local environmental and koala centres, and other community establishments. Earlier this year, Thirsty Chiefs received a letter from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water advising them of success in their application of $25,000 under the Energy Efficient Communities grants.

On hearing this news, I went personally to the brewery to congratulate them on receiving the grant. I asked the owner of Thirsty Chiefs, Dean Nolan, what he would use the funding for. He told me that the $25,000 would help them replace their current seven-year-old LPG-gas-run boiler with a more energy efficient electric boiler. They are currently spending $15,000 a year on LPG gas, and they're spending 10 times the amount that households spend on energy each year. The new boiler would be run off the solar panels that are already on the roof, and the installation of this new boiler would not only decrease emissions but also increase the bottom line of the business, making it more viable to employ more staff and serve the community. This is at a time when small businesses are already struggling to keep with the week-to-week expenses under the increased inflation of the Albanese government.

Only months later, after the election, what happened? They got a letter from the Albanese government saying that their review, which was approved by the department, was under review. The Labor government went to the last election on a foundation of climate change and reducing emissions by 43 per cent by 2030—in fact, it's now legislated—so it doesn't make sense this government would send a letter to grant recipients saying that their grant is under review and might not be funded. It's absolutely absurd. Dean has told me that he was gutted when he received the letter saying that the grants were under review.

Last Friday, I made a visit to Thirsty Chiefs with the member of for Fairfax, our Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Ted O'Brien. It is our intention to bring to light the other 800 businesses around Australia that, like Thirsty Chiefs, were fully approved by the department even without a local member's input—it all came down to the assessment by the department. These 800 businesses are being left in the dark, many of them now waiting with worn down, broken technology. They deserve answers and they deserve them now.

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