Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. How is the Albanese Labor government taking action after a wasted decade to build a cleaner, more reliable energy future while helping Australians with cost-of-living pressures?

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

I thank the member for Fremantle for his question and his leadership in all matters climate and environment related over his time in this parliament. As he knows and as the House knows, this government was elected with a mandate of rebuilding Australia's energy system after 10 years of denial, delay and dysfunction. We did that with a view to building our energy grid to become 82 per cent renewable by 2030, which is ambitious but achievable, and we will be world leading when we achieve it.

Of course, we have started implementing the policies to do just that with, importantly, rewiring our country—Rewiring the Nation, our commitment to rebuild our energy grid. Just before Christmas, the Prime Minister and I went to the Hunter Valley to join with the Premier and energy minister of New South Wales to announce our New South Wales commitments on Rewiring the Nation with $7.8 billion total of funding, which will unleash renewable investment right across New South Wales.

I know the member for New England hates renewable investment, including in his electorate, but the people of New South Wales welcome it. This will create 3,900 jobs right across New South Wales. This builds on our previous commitments to the governments of Victoria and Tasmania. In Victoria our commitments create 2,000 jobs, and, of course, importantly, Marinus Link will provide the second and third links between Tasmania and the mainland and will enable Tasmania to reach 200 per cent renewables, creating 2,800 jobs in the process.

We understand that 'emissions down and jobs up' is the driving motivation of rebuilding our energy grid and unleashing that renewable investment.

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

The member for New England will cease interjecting.

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

Of course, we're also implementing the capacity investment mechanism, agreed unanimously by me, on behalf of the Commonwealth, and every state and territory minister, again just before Christmas. This will unleash a minimum, conservatively, of $10 billion worth of investment and six gigawatts of clean, dispatchable power. That's very important because over the last decade we saw, as the House might recall, four gigawatts leave the grid and only one gigawatt of dispatchable energy come onto the grid, which is a big part of the challenge we are facing today.

Of course, we've also abolished the member for Hume's failed Underwriting New Generation Investments scheme and recommitted the money to a big-battery program. I was pleased to announce eight big batteries at a cost of $179 million just before Christmas. That is what good government does. It gets on with the job. It doesn't delay. It doesn't deny. It doesn't dissemble. It gets on with the job. That's what the Albanese government's doing, because we know that the cheapest form of energy is renewable energy. We don't need to go to Japan to make videos about energy in Hiroshima; we're getting on with the job. (Time expired)