Thursday, 18 May 2023

 Lily D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park – Minister for Climate Action, Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for the State Electricity Commission) (09:41): I am pleased to update the house on the incredible uptake of our cost-of-living $250 power saving bonus in my electorate of Mill Park. Since the launch of the fourth round of the power saving bonus there have been 1.4 million applications lodged in Victoria, with over 20,000 households in my electorate of Mill Park applying. This is more than $5 million worth of immediate cost-of-living support straight into the pockets of my constituents. My office alone has assisted 430 households to apply for the bonus, totalling more than $107,000 of cost-of-living support delivered to local families. For families who applied for the last round of the bonus, which was another $250, we see that in just 12 months $500 has been made available to the pockets of Victorian households. I have had many pop-up stalls across my electorate to make sure that everyone gets their chance to apply. Most recently it was great to bring the power saving bonus to shoppers at Westfield Plenty Valley, and I kept hearing from my constituents how important the bonus is to their family budget, providing real relief to rising cost-of-living pressures. That is also what I heard at my next stop at Mill Park Stables Shopping Centre. It was particularly great to chat with Bryan, who not only has applied for the power saving bonus but is one of 222,000 – (Time expired)