Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

The government will be opposing this amendment. The Treasury laws amendment bill is crucial, and this amendment is crucial to providing additional capital to the CEFC to implement our Rewiring the Nation fund. Accelerating the uptake of cheaper, cleaner and more reliable electricity helps us to lower energy bills and reduce our emissions. That's why we are investing in critical transmission projects across Australia through the Rewiring the Nation fund.

The CEFC has been highly successful in bringing forward clean energy investment over the past 10 years, despite attempts to abolish the organisation. Over that period, the CEFC has invested with a lifetime transaction value of $42.8 billion, with $11.7 billion of lifetime commitments achieving leverage of $2.62 for every dollar invested. The CEFC needs the additional capital in this bill to invest in the first round of Rewiring the Nation investments that are coming to a financial close in the coming months, and the transmission is critical to the energy transformation. It will enable more renewables and storage to be connected to the grid, driving down energy prices. Rewiring the Nation will provide that $20 billion in low-cost finance to upgrade, expand and modernise our grids. It will lower the cost of new transmission projects and accelerate delivery, and we are working to co-invest with state and territory governments in these projects. Individual investment decisions will be made by the CEFC in accordance with its statutory independence and its Investment Mandate.