Smart Energy Council conference, Sydney, NSW
As we gather on the lands of the Gadigal people, I am pleased to report progress in our efforts to ensure First Nations people benefit from the creation of more reliable, cheaper renewable energy across our country. In March we opened Round One of the First Nations Clean Energy Advice Grants of between $5,000 and $80,000. Our microgrids program continues to roll out.
In the last fortnight, for example, my Special Envoy Kate Thwaites announced Government support for Borroloola and Ltytentye Apurte microgrids, where she met electrical apprentices preparing to start work on the projects. These projects will support local communities to design, develop and lead their own energy solutions, improving power reliability, affordability and energy security in areas where the electricity grid does not reach or is currently unreliable.
They will also help create a pipeline of local skills and training, with 10 Certificate II places in Construction and Renewable Energy Pathways and two electrical apprenticeships to support jobs during construction, operations and future energy projects in the region. Well friends, a lot has happened since we gathered here a year ago. Last time I spoke at this conference, it was a couple of days after we had announced our 2025 election policy of Cheaper Home Batteries.
A few weeks later, that election which Peter Dutton had described as a referendum on climate and energy policies was decided. Since then, the policy has been smoothly implemented and taken up with gusto by the Australian people. As of today, 380,712 batteries have been installed, representing 10.7 gigawatt hours of storage.
And also since then we have achieved our first quarter in which renewable energy supplied more than half of our electricity, the last quarter of 2025. And so, today, I want to give you a progress report. A progress report on our sensible, common-sense policies to build more of the fastest to deploy, cheapest form of energy that is also more sovereign, more reliable and lower emissions as well.
Now of course, there are those who are trying valiantly, to jump in the way of this commonsense transition, using any excuse to mount an ideological culture war against all evidence of the benefits of renewable energy. But they are losing the argument. They are losing the argument domestically, with the Australian people embracing the transition.
They are losing the argument in outer suburbs and regions, with suburban and regional Australians taking up renewable energy with more speed than anyone else. And they are losing the argument around the world as well, which I will touch on. Another thing that has happened since we met a year ago is the biggest global energy shock in world history.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol has described the impact of this crisis as being as big as the 1970 oil shocks and the 2022 Ukraine shock combined. And of course, this has taken the bulk of my time and attention for the last two months. The Foreign Minister of Singapore, Vivian Balakrishnan, has described the Iran War as an "Asian Crisis" because of the dependence on the Straits of Hormuz of Asian supply chains.
And of course, we are integrally linked to that Asian supply chain. But industry and government working together has seen us as well placed as we can be, with all expected deliveries of fuel arriving and 450 ML of additional diesel and 100 ML of jet fuel added through strong government intervention and partnership with industry. One of the most important things we did upon coming to Government is implement a Minimum Stockholding Obligation, so our fuel reserves work in Australia’s national interest.
The MSO was all press releases and no policy from the former Government. Angus Taylor announced he was going to do it, but never got around to, you know, doing it. That meant that our reserves were still held in Texas – and would’ve taken around 30 days to get here if our stocks were still held there.
By contrast, we now have 43 days petrol, 33 days diesel, 28 days jet fuel right here in Australia, for Australian households and industry to use should we need it. And as many in this room would understand, that number hasn’t fluctuated greatly since the start of this conflict because ships continue to arrive. This sees, in the face of the worst energy crisis in history and against an ill-timed fire in one of our major refineries, Australia having more fuel today than when the crisis began on February 28.
Now of course, there remains uncertainty and risk. Our job is to ensure that Australia is as well placed to navigate that risk as we possibly can be. And that will remain our focus.
There are some who perversely argue that this international crisis is somehow a reminder of the need to double down on fossil fuel reliance. Who argue that it somehow a sign of failure of renewables because we have had to work hard to keep the supply of oil, diesel and petroleum in recent weeks. This is a simplistic and prejudiced view completely out of touch with reality.
A good and serious government works hard to ensure supply of the things we need in the short term like fuel while also working to reduce reliance on them in the longer term. By the behaviour and approach in recent months, the Opposition has shown they would not be a good or serious government. They have had no constructive suggestions since February 28, nor have they been able to point to anything they would have done differently in recent months.
But the Opposition, and some commentators will use any opportunity to argue against renewable energy. No development, domestic or international can't be twisted by dint of warped logic as an excuse to slow the rollout of renewable energy and prolong reliance on old forms of energy. They are making a losing argument.
Governments around the world disagree with them. The Australian people disagree with them. The Australian people voted with their ballots last year, but they are voting with their decisions each and every day.
As part of my progress report, I have good news on EVs. Four years ago, one in fifty new cars sold was an EV or plug-in hybrid. In April, we can now say EVs made up over a quarter - 27.5% - of light vehicle sales in April 2026, up from 1.9% in April 2022.
And nearly half of all new light vehicles sold in April 2026 were electric, plug-in hybrid or hybrid — up from just one in ten in April 2022. 515 Australians bought an EV each day in April. The equivalent figure in April 2022 was 29 a day. Australians went from buying roughly one EV every 50 minutes just four years ago to buying one every three minutes in this April just gone.
This shift is a combination of government policy change and an enthusiastic public. In next week’s budget, we’re continuing our support for Australians to make the motoring choices they wish to make. The EV tax discount will continue this year unchanged.
From 2027, the full discount applies to EVs under $75,000, which will encourage companies to offer more affordable models below that threshold. The New Vehicle Efficiency Standard means there are more cheaper to run cars in the Australian market, increasing choice and lowering running costs. Choice that was and is opposed by our conservative opponents.
It is only because of the success of the NVES in encouraging more affordable EV’s into Australia that we can focus the EV tax cut on these affordable models. And measures like the Electric Car Discount have reduced upfront costs for households and businesses – with middle income Australians benefitting the most. Benefits that were and are opposed by our conservative opponents.
This is a story of outer suburbs and middle incomes. In NSW the highest take up of our EV discount is in the suburbs of Kellyville and Rouse Hill. Parramatta has become Polestar Parade and Blacktown is BYD Boulevard.
I have to admit one thing though. The take up of electric vehicles pales in comparison to the alacrity with which Australians have taken up cheaper home batteries. When I was here last year there was a lot of excitement about our cheaper home battery announcement.
Twelve months later however, even the most optimistic and upbeat of us (and I include myself in that category) must say that the Australian people have taken to the policy with an enthusiasm at the upper end of our expectations. 380,712 home batteries installed. More than 10 Gigawatt hours of storage added. In less than a year.
And of course, this accompanies good progress with the rollout of grid scale and community batteries as well. The world is adopting batteries in a big way, but Australia is leading the way. Battery capacity is expanding rapidly around the world, but 10% of the global battery capacity expansion is occurring in Australia.
That's a big deal. Batteries playing a bigger role in our grid helps reduce bills for everyone, not just those with batteries. I was pleased to see Australia's progress in batteries called out in the respected Ember Global Electricity Review 2026.
Ember wrote, "Australia shows how batteries can quickly reshape power markets once deployed at scale. In Quarter Four 2025 during high value peak times (6pm to 8pm) in the NEM batteries set the price 30% of the time -doubling from 18% in Q4 2024 - displacing gas and hydro as price setters." They also note that we added enough battery capacity in 2025 alone to shift 53% of new solar power added in that year from the middle of the day to the evening, the second-best result in the world after Chile.
This success in batteries and EV's is of course part of a broader story of progress. Steady progress. I have mentioned the fact we surpassed 50% of electricity coming from renewable energy in Q4 2025.
No small achievement. But I think this also tells another, even more important story. The last quarter of last year also saw the highest electricity use in our history.
It was very hot. But this hot summer, which in times past might have seen ministers on the airwaves asking people to cut their energy use saw no reliability issues whatsoever. Renewable energy saw us cruise through the quarter reliability wise, all while delivering the lowest emissions intensity for electricity in Australian history.
And of course, it's no coincidence that this high renewable penetration comes at the same time as the Australian Energy Regulator flags material reductions in electricity prices in the draft Default Market Offer. This triple result of more reliability, lower emissions and lower prices is why the rest of the world is on the same journey as us. Just last week, AEMO reiterated this in their quarterly report on Q1 this year– reporting that wholesale electricity prices across the NEM were down 12 per cent year on year, pushed down by batteries and solar.
Despite a hot summer, fossil fuel use in the NEM hit a record low. Total coal-fired generation fell more than 4% year-on-year, driven by a significant drop in black coal. Gas recorded its lowest quarterly average in 25 years, down 24% on the same time last year.
Less gas used this year than any first quarter since 1999. These aren't marginal changes. They reflect a structural shift in how Australia generates its power.
We’ve got the best sun and wind in the world, and we’re using our sovereign renewables to shield our grid from global energy volatility and to bring down your energy bills. Our opponents like to paint these policies and objectives as being ideologically driven and out of keeping with the rest of the world. They couldn't be more wrong.
It is they that are out of touch with the world. It is they that ignore the facts about cost, speed of rollout and reliability, let alone climate science. They want to leave Australian billpayers exposed to global shocks – left to pick up the bill for their fossil fuel fanaticism.
Take the recent Ember report again. "The era of clean power growth is here" Ember reports. With renewables over taking coal in 2025 and record growth in solar meaning that renewable energy met the vast majority of new demand growth in 2025.
Or to put it another way, as Ember says: "Global solar growth in 2025 alone exceeded the electricity that could be generated from all LNG exports through the Straits of Hormuz that year." China and India both reduced fossil fuel’s share of electricity generation in 2025, telling the lie to the Liberal Party claim that Australia shouldn't act on climate change because China and India are not.
And by the way - the "nuclear renaissance" isn't happening either. Ember tells us: "Nuclear's share of global electricity generation continued its steady decline, reaching a new low of 8.9% in 2025, as its growth was outpaced by rising demand." So, those who argue Australia needs to slow down are the ones hopelessly out of touch. Out of touch with the world.
Out of touch with Australians. Out of touch with economic reality. My friends, I want to finish with two messages.
We've come a long way these last four years. We have a long way to go. Now, in marking the fact that we have come a long way, I want to pause and say this.
Because one person has been very important in the progress we have made so far. No-one has been more important in the progress we have made than John Grimes. I thought about opening my speech with this observation but decided instead it is a better conclusion.
Because John has been an outstanding leader for this sector. In thin times, he led the resistance and argued for common sense against a recalcitrant Coalition. In the good times, he has been a vital sounding board for me and the Government, a wise counsel and an indispensable guide to the sector.
I know he will remain a mentor and an inspiration to many. But even the indispensable move on. I'm glad he is staying in the sector and indeed expanding his horizons because there is so much more to do.
The progress we have made so far has not been easy. The next few years will not be cruising either. But it can be done.
We have moved from 33% renewable energy in 2022 to 50% in 2025. I believe we can make 82% by 2030. But only if we keep our collective feet on the accelerator.
Only if we move even faster. I know the Australian people are with us in this endeavour. Because the Australian people know common sense when they see it.
So, my friends, we can't do it without you - the renewable energy sector. Let's keep going, let's go faster still. Let's get this job done.
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.