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

We agree with Senator Van as to the importance of developing renewable energy infrastructure. It is a regrettable fact that those opposite ensured that there was so little investment in the energy infrastructure the country needed over the nearly a decade that they were in government. We obviously need to ensure that these projects, like any other projects, are able to obtain approval under national environmental law in the way that I have described. I'm also advised that in fact the Albanese government is approving more renewable energy projects than ever before. In fact, we have seen the approval of some 42 renewable energy projects, which, combined, are enough to power over two million homes—equivalent to all households in Tassie, South Australia, the Northern Territory and the ACT.