Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, 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 getting on with the job of delivering cheaper, cleaner power backed up by batteries, and what other approaches to energy has the government rejected?

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

I thank the honourable member not only for the question but also for her contribution in this parliament as an engineer from Kalgoorlie with a passion for climate action. The honourable member asked me about progress in introducing cheaper renewable energy, and we're pleased that it's up by 25 per cent since we came to office. But, of course, our policy is also renewable energy backed by batteries, backed by gas and backed by transmission. I'm also pleased to inform the honourable member and the House that the number of household batteries is up 21 per cent in the last 12 months, that this government is delivering 420 community batteries across Australia and that in the first seven months of this year we've had 2.8 gigawatts worth of big batteries start construction, which is part of a pipeline of nine gigawatts.

The honourable member and other Western Australian members will be interested to know that two of those big batteries that will be open next year are in a place called Collie in Western Australia. We have the Synergy battery in Collie, which, at 2,000 megawatt hours, is one of the largest batteries in the world, and the Neoen battery, which will have the capacity to charge and discharge 20 per cent of the needs of the south-west grid in Western Australia. Those are two big batteries under construction in Western Australia and opening next year.

I'm sure all this will come as a considerable surprise to the Leader of the Opposition, for two reasons. He's never been to Collie and he doesn't know where it is. Also, he doesn't know that batteries exist. He said in an interview in March this year, 'Hopefully, the battery technology is about to be discovered.' It was actually discovered in 1800, but I'm sure the Leader of the Opposition will catch up. When the Leader of the Opposition eventually gets to Collie, he will have some explaining to do, not least of which is: when will Collie get their nuclear reactor? To be fair to the member for Fairfax, he's been to Collie. He was asked, 'When are we getting our nuclear reactor?' and he said:

Our plan, we talked about it with (Collie) council today, is that we would see the first electricity coming to the grid in a 10-year period.

So it will be 10 years, with one of the first ones in Collie. The Western Australian senator Senator Michaelia Cash was asked the same question, and she said:

… so we are likely to be part of the second tranche, which is in the lead up to 2050.

Which is it to be? The first 10 years, or this new policy of a second tranche which is in the lead-up to 2050? They don't know where Collie is, and they can't say when it's getting its nuclear reactor. This is important. The Muja Power Station in Collie is closing in two tranches: this year and in 2029. Where are the power and the jobs going to come from between 2029 and 2050? Where are they coming from under the Leader of the Opposition's crazy plan? They do not have a plan. All they've got is a fantasy. (Time expired)