Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026
Mr LAXALE (Bennelong) (16:05): In my electorate of Bennelong, people expect their government to act on climate change. They're not interested in the climate wars, they're not interested in the dithering and delay of the former government and they're not interested in the arguments that the former government are having amongst themselves right now. They want a government that takes clear action and makes progress, and I see that will from people in Bennelong every day.
Families are adding rooftop solar to their houses. Small businesses are investing in renewable energy technology. They're taking up some of the grants of the Albanese Labor government to help them.
Schools are teaching kids about sustainability. It's part of what Bennelong is. They're practical, forward looking and determined to leave their climate and environment better than they found them.
That's why in 2022 and again in 2025 Bennelong voted for a government that would take climate change seriously and had a plan for climate action that was grounded in science, not in politics—and for a government that would deliver on that, not delay it. Since coming to office, we've upheld our end of the bargain. We've done more for emissions reduction and climate change in three years than the coalition did in a decade.
We lifted our emissions reduction target from 26 per cent to 43 per cent by 2030 and we've set an ambitious target of up to 70 per cent reduction by 2035, with that range of 62 to 70 per cent. Of course, we believe and are working towards net zero by 2050, because that's the absolute, bare minimum. The science and the experts tell us that the absolute, bare minimum is net zero by 2050.
I know my community want us to get there sooner than that. I certainly want to get there sooner than that, but net zero by 2050 is the minimum. You just need to read the papers and the speeches in this place to see that many of those opposite don't even agree with that.
They don't even get to the bare minimum, and we have members sitting here laughing at this. The bare minimum is net zero by 2050. We have to get there, and to get there we've got a plan.
We've rolled out our New Vehicle Efficiency Standard. We've got the EV discounts, a tax cut for people getting low-emissions transport. This is incredibly important.
We know that the transport sector is hard to abate, and switching people to low-emissions vehicles is incredibly important. Since we've come to government, low-emissions vehicle sales have risen from two per cent to 10 per cent. That is in just three years, and we know that there's more to do.
We've approved over 100 renewable energy projects. That milestone was reached just a week or two ago. That's enough to power over 11 million households.
It will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 53 million tonnes every year. As for the detail, there are 43 solar farms, 22 onshore wind farms, 13 large-scale renewable-energy storage systems and some hybrid systems where you've got the solar farm and the battery on the same site, which is what the 100th approval was. We're transforming Australia's energy grid because we have to.
We know that coal is exiting the system. We need a government that takes energy policy seriously. That's not what we had for nine years.
We had a government that had more energy policies than they had underwear in their top drawer. They couldn't pick which one they'd go with, and they then tried another one, the nuclear policy, at the last election. Well, the electorate nuked them.
It absolutely wiped out that policy. They told us to go further with renewable energy, and that's what we will continue to do. The Capacity Investment Scheme is unlocking 32 gigawatts of renewable energy generation, and we see that being taken up at the household and small-business levels with our home battery subsidy.
More than 80,000 home batteries have been installed from 1 July—which is incredible—because households understand the transition. It's like the only ones who don't understand the transition are others opposite, those who tried to laugh our projects out of here. They don't get it.
Households get it in the regions and the suburbs. Communities understand it. Bennelong understands it.
The government understand it but the opposition do not. The last update I had from the minister was that across our community 321 new home batteries have been installed. I would like to ask the minister if I can please get an update on the rollout of Commonwealth funded EV chargers.