Linda White (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

How good is the community battery grant scheme? It is absolutely fantastic. It is being rolled out across this country in communities. It is the Albanese government delivering on an election commitment to roll out 400 batteries in neighbourhoods across the country, delivering more affordable and secure solar power to more Australians. It is a fantastic program which will allow ordinary Australians to store affordable solar energy for use during peak times and to share excess power with other households in their area—areas like Aston, in outer Melbourne.

Aston is a typical area in outer Melbourne which is facing a by-election this Saturday. They'll be weighing up the programs and the ways in which the Albanese government runs programs like the community battery grant—programs where you can clearly see what you need to do to get community batteries. The websites talk about how you apply, what the criteria are and how you could be successful. The people of Aston would appreciate that, I am sure, because in the past they have had a member of parliament who was involved in the significant robodebt scheme—he was partially an architect of that. They've also seen sports rorts, where the grant schemes were administered through colour coded spreadsheets. So I am sure the families of Aston will be weighing those things up.

Of course, it is difficult thing to win a by-election as a government—in fact, there hasn't been a by-election won by a government for about a hundred years, since 1920—but I'm sure that the provision of the community battery grant and the way it's being administered by this government will be something weighing on the minds of Aston residents as they think about the government they had previously and how grants had previously been administered. They'll compare that to this fantastic community battery grant scheme, which has already seen 58 community battery grants awarded, where clear guidelines had been available. They will know that it's possible for the community to have these battery grants. They know they will be offered by a group, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, ARENA, and there will be a program to deliver the rest of those batteries, the 342 other batteries that the government has committed to. This will be done with stakeholder consultation and will be done with clear guidelines that people can follow and transparently see how they are delivered.

As my colleague Senator Grogan said, one in every three Australian households have solar panels. That is one of the highest rates in the world. There are lots of solar panels in Aston. I've been out there many times. There are lots of people who have taken up solar panels. They are looking forward to things like the community battery grant scheme: whether they can apply for them and whether they can be successful. Community batteries are going to allow the storage of energy and sharing with others, so your neighbours. And it's not just rooftop solar. What this program is doing transparently is putting downward pressure on household electricity costs. It's going to contribute to lower emissions. It's going to provide a benefit to the electricity network. It's going to store solar energy for later use, sharing and support. It's going to allow households like those in Aston that cannot install solar panels to enjoy the benefits of renewable energy through shared community storage.

That's one of the things that's going to be weighing on the minds of the good voters of Aston this weekend, not only what the government have already delivered but also what we will deliver. They have a fantastic candidate in Mary Doyle in Aston, who will be able to prosecute their needs and represent them. It's my great hope that this weekend she gets elected to be the member for Aston.