Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Minister Carr, the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Wong. Does the minister agree that energy efficiency is one of the cheapest and fastest ways to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Does he further agree that the vast majority of Australia’s 7.4 million homes are energy inefficient and that the poor uptake of cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities is due to barriers such as high up-front costs and the fact that 30 per cent of homes are rented? Hence I ask: does the minister further agree that cash payments or low-interest loans will not remove these barriers and nor will they address the impacts of a carbon price on low-income households?