Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The Albanese government has an energy savings plan of $1.7 billion to help families and businesses across the country make upgrades and improvements to save on energy costs. That includes $300 million to support upgrades to social housing, which, as the senator rightly points out, is often older and lacks energy efficiency. Those who have the least capacity to deal with price rises also have the least capacity to enable energy efficiency, so these programs are to deal with that social challenge.

It's estimated that upgrades for around 60,000 properties will save up to a third of their energy consumption, and work is already underway in some states, including Victoria. This week plans to upgrade energy efficiency in nearly half of the public housing stock here in the ACT were announced, and partnerships with remaining states and territories will be announced in the coming months.