Alison Byrnes (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

There seems to be a strange power that keeps drawing me to speak on the member of the Fairfax's matters of public importance. Since the last election, he has proposed four matters of public importance before this chamber, and I've been lucky enough to speak on the last three. All of the MPIs proposed by the member for Fairfax have been on energy prices. I know how important this issue is to my electorate, as is providing relief to those who need it most. But it is a real pity he did nothing about energy prices for the past decade when he was in government. I'm beginning to think we could have an untapped source of renewable energy in this country: the bluster of those opposite. But I do hope one day I might be able to speak on and MPI proposed by the member for Fairfax that might actually relate to climate change and the important side of his shadow portfolio responsibilities—a shocking idea, I know. But on the question of the Albanese Labor government supporting Australians with cost-of-living pressures, it might be time for Ted—sorry, the member for Fairfax—to read the Treasurer's budget address or, if he wants more details, budget paper No. 2.

Labor's budget outlines a comprehensive plan that provides cost-of-living relief for those that need it most while investing in key drivers of sustainable growth and sustainably funding the services that Australians rely on. This budget is providing energy bill relief to over five million households and one million small businesses, as well as helping 170,000 households save on energy bills by financing energy-saving home upgrades, reducing out-of-pocket health costs by tripling bulk-billing incentives and investing in more bulk-billing urgent-care clinics, cutting the cost of medicine by up to half for at least six million Australians, supporting 57,000 single parents by expanding eligibility for parenting payment single, responsibly increasing the base rate for JobSeeker and other payments for 1.1 million people, increasing Commonwealth rent assistance for 1.1 million households, implementing tax beaks to ensure more investment in build-to-rent projects, delivering a 15 per cent pay rise on award wages for aged-care workers and getting wages moving again.

The new Energy Price Relief Plan will provide relief for more than 1.6 million eligible households with a $500 energy rebate, and a $650 rebate for 300,000 eligible small businesses in New South Wales—including some of the most vulnerable in our community. In addition to the energy price relief rebates, Labor is investing in cleaner, cheaper energy over the medium and longer term—something those opposite failed to do during their decade in government. The previous government attacked and blocked renewable energy for nearly a decade, including by refusing to invest in transmission even to connect the Snowy 2.0 project to the grid, and now we're paying the price. Our Labor budget delivers more than $1.6 billion for energy-saving upgrades for homes, businesses and social housing, which is made up of $1.3 billion to establish the Household Energy Upgrades Fund, $300 million to support upgrades to social housing and $310 million in tax relief to be delivered via the Small Business Energy Incentive.

Locally, in the Illawarra, this Labor government is investing and delivering when it comes to energy price relief. Last week, I was happy to announce, with Minister Chris Bowen and the member for Whitlam, that Warrawong and Dapto will receive community batteries, helping lower household electricity bills, reducing emissions and delivering reliable renewable energy for local residents—some of the most vulnerable in my electorate. Endeavour Energy will receive $1 million in grant funding to install a 720 kilowatt hour battery in Warrawong and a 1,040 kilowatt hour battery in Dapto as part of the government's community batteries program. This is another example of the Albanese Labor government delivering for our Illawarra region as we invest $200 million to install 400 community batteries across the country.

We are getting on with the job of delivering a comprehensive plan for cleaner cheaper energy, in clear contrast to the mess left by those opposite and a decade of inaction.

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