Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise on behalf of the communities of Sunbury and Macedon Ranges to voice their disappointment at the Turnbull government's broken promise on funding for rooftop solar energy. In the 2013 campaign, the Minister for the Environment attended a function with the Liberal candidate for my electorate of McEwen and announced an election commitment of $300,000 in rooftop solar funding. Not only was the announcement made at Boardman Stadium in Sunbury—and I have a nice little picture here of the minister and the candidate—but the minister himself tweeted that photo, saying, 'Sunbury solar town to cut electricity costs at community sports stadiums'.

You can imagine the not-for-profit sector would have been ready to jump on board with any opportunity to reduce their operating costs, but they have been predictably let down by the Abbott-Turnbull government. After they had waited more than two years for the Abbott-Turnbull government to deliver its promise, the Minister for the Environment finally opened the third round of Solar Towns funding, which would finally include these two areas in which the original election commitment had been made. The round 3 funding announcement was made with little fanfare under the cover of the Christmas-New Year period. I have heard mozzies buzz louder than the department's advertising on this round. If you blinked, you would have missed it. In fact, most organisations in the electorate almost did miss it. They were contacted directly by local councils and encouraged to apply for funding close to the closing date.

Not only did the minister and his department fail these communities by making sure the announcement was low-key; they deceitfully changed the application rules. The application process required not-for-profit community organisations to run a gauntlet of red tape so onerous that it would deter even the most determined of volunteers. How does such a process get approval when the Abbott-Turnbull government makes such a song and dance about its deregulation agenda and removing red tape? It also specifically excluded local governments like the Hume City Council and Macedon Ranges shire from applying. Not only would these organisations be best equipped for dealing with this bureaucratic hurdle; they also own most of the property and facilities that not-for-profit community groups use. As I predicted in this place on 14 October 2015, this conveniently blocks a significant portion of volunteer organisations from making an application for the funds. Interestingly, it means the very building that the minister made the announcement in is ineligible.

It is an absolute disgrace. If I were being generous I would say it was an oversight, but, let us be honest, it is this government. I would suggest the changes in the application process and bureaucratic roadblocks were intentional deterrents—but it is a good thing that I am not enough of a cynic to think these things.

What communities like those in Sunbury and Mount Macedon want to know is: why did the minister and Liberal candidate mislead the shires into believing this promise would be delivered? Why did this government explicitly exclude these shires from accessing the grant, especially when they are in the exact location of the commitment announcement? It is pretty clear that the minister, the candidate and Malcolm Turnbull cannot be trusted at their word. We will not forget this deliberate act of deceit.