Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Why is it important to invest in Australia's future energy needs, and how do recent announcements and policy changes deliver on this priority?

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question and for his strong support of better renewable energy in Tasmania and efforts to make it happen. As I said before, I'm pleased to report and confirm to the House that last week the Prime Minister made an announcement—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition is warned!

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

of the biggest federal investment in energy since his predecessor Ben Chifley announced the Snowy Mountains Scheme. I'm also pleased to report to the House that every single dollar of that investment goes to renewable energy and renewable energy transmission. We're investing in renewable energy zones in Victoria. We're investing in offshore wind in Victoria, which we will make a reality. We're investing in a better connection between Victoria and New South Wales, working in conjunction with both governments. And we're investing in Tasmania as well: a billion dollars of concessional finance to make Battery of the Nation a reality, and support for the north-west transmission link and, most important of all, the Marinus Link.

Honourable members would know about the Marinus Link, because they've heard about it for six years. Like clockwork, every couple of months the previous government—the previous Prime Minister and the previous minister—would go to Tasmania and make an announcement of a couple of million dollars here and a couple of million dollars there. Last week, this Prime Minister announced $2½ billion of support to make this project a reality. What this project means is that Tasmania, which is already at 100 per cent renewable energy, will get to 200 per cent renewable energy and export that energy to the mainland, which is good for Tasmanians—creating jobs, unleashing investment, unleashing jobs—and will unleash cheaper renewable energy for all Australians on the national energy market.

That's why this project is so important. It's so important because there's no transition without transmission. We on this side of the House understand that. We understand that we are lucky, in Australia, to have a document called the Integrated System Plan, which outlines a road map for better transmission. The only problem with the Integrated System Plan is that there haven't been dollars attached to it; there hasn't been investment in it. We dealt with that in the then Leader of the Opposition's first budget reply as Leader of the Opposition, when he announced Rewiring the Nation to actually make that transmission a reality. But now we can only make it a reality because we are implementing that policy in government, and we continue to be in discussions with other state governments, right around the country, in relation to Rewiring the Nation, and that fund will be confirmed this evening in the budget. I look forward to further announcements with the Prime Minister, because we know that the world's climate emergency is Australia's jobs opportunity, with the right policies to seize those opportunities, and that's what we're going to continue to deliver.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Given that I've failed to get a single question from those opposite about the budget or the economy, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.