Energy policy
Darren CHEESEMAN (South Barwon) (14:21): My question is to the Premier. From 1 July Australians living in New South Wales, South Australia and south-east Queensland will access 3 hours of free midday power under the federal solar sharer program. Victorians must wait until 1 October, from your announcement. Premier, given the rising cost of living because of the Iran war, will you bring forward the 3 hours of free power or bring forward a power saving bonus to cover the gap?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:22): I thank the member for South Barwon for his question. I was very pleased a few weeks ago to be with the Minister for Energy and Resources and the SEC to announce that we will be bringing in midday free power saving for 3 hours in the middle of the day to Victoria. We did acknowledge at that time that we would be bringing that in from 1 October. The minister went at some length to the reason for this at the press conference, which is because of both the different market here in Victoria and the advice from the market to do this properly to make sure the benefit flowed to Victorians. This was the timeframe to be able to deliver this to bring more benefit for more people than is being experienced in other jurisdictions. This comes off the back of the significant work that has been led by the minister. Through the Victorian default offer we have the lowest energy prices here in Victoria in the national market. That is a benefit for households. That is a benefit for businesses. Why do we have this position here in Victoria? Because we are backing renewable energy. We are doing that through bringing back the SEC and delivering renewable energy. We are doing that through building wind farms, solar farms and big batteries right across the state.
Of course Victorians know that those opposite want to literally pull the plug on the renewable energy industry. They announced this last week. Do you know what this means? There would be no midday power saver. There would be no renewable energy. It risks our economic security to have a policy position that is more in pursuit of One Nation votes than it is about what is in the best interests of our state. Renewable energy is part of our energy security into the future, and I was quite surprised to hear the Leader of the National Party talking against a project that brings jobs to regional Victoria. He is against jobs in regional Victoria. He is against households and businesses in regional Victoria having energy security. To top it off, this risks driving billions and billions of dollars of investment away from our state. The message from the Liberal–National–One Nation coalition to the energy industry is that the shutters would come down, the lights would go off and jobs would be lost as they drive investment away from our state.
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:25): I can understand why the member for South Barwon would be asking a question that is in the context of the pressures that household budgets are under right now when energy bills make up a big component of people’s household budgets. It is one of the things we do know that households are feeling under pressure to pay those bills. There are a range of programs, and part of the answer to the question is to go and check out the SEC one-stop shop to find ways you can use the Victorian energy upgrades program to, if you can, go all-electric and take advantage of those cheaper prices – as I referenced before, the lowest prices in the national energy market. It is also why we are delivering real cost-of-living relief: public transport half price till the end of the year and 20 per cent off car rego – initiatives opposed, again, by those opposite.