MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Ms CLUTTERHAM (Sturt) (15:59): We've heard the claim today about the government's approach to energy, but let's be clear. The Albanese Labor government is delivering real, targeted relief to households and small businesses, in parallel with laying the foundations for a cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy future—one of the greatest industrial transformations in generations.
From 1 July 2025, every household and around one million small businesses have received $150 in automatic energy bill rebates, on top of the $300 already delivered last financial year. These rebates have helped drive down electricity prices by an estimated 7.1 per cent nationally. But this isn't just about rebates; this is about transformation.
And South Australia is leading the way. In my great state we're on track to reach 100 per cent net renewable energy by 2027, with billions invested in large-scale renewables and more in the pipeline. Recently the 412-megawatt Goyder South wind farm, outside of Burra, in the regional Clare Valley, was inaugurated.
It's the largest in the state, with 75 turbines boosting wind generation in South Australia by more than 20 per cent, powering homes and businesses, including BHP, which will draw energy from the wind farm. It's forecast to produce roughly 1.5 terawatt hours of renewable energy each year. And, as of 1.30 pm today, the Australian Energy Market Operator fuel-mix dashboard showed that in South Australia 48 per cent of our energy was being generated by wind.
The generation cost of wind energy and solar energy is of course next to zero. We know that the more renewables there are in the system the less we need to depend on unreliable, dirty coal-fired power and gas over time, which will provide additional cost relief on energy bills. The energy transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy is one of the greatest industrial transformations in more than a century.
It requires investment from all parts of this country, from the federal government to state government to local government to businesses, industry, communities and individual Australians. Our net zero targets are ambitious, but our planet demands that we work together to achieve them—and go beyond them to the extent possible. In my electorate of Sturt, this is what my community is asking: Asian Australians for Climate Solutions, Electrify Adelaide, mums and grandmas for climate action, STEM for early learners, and countless individual constituents.
Transitioning to renewable energy as quickly as possible is what my community is calling for—loudly—because my electorate understands that the transition to renewable energy is both an environmental and an economic imperative, and, in Sturt, people are acting. Under the Albanese Labor government's Cheaper Home Batteries scheme, 1,606 households in Sturt have taken up the offer, making us the silver medal winner across the entire country.
We have a community battery at the Tuku Wirra Reserve, which provides energy to multiple Housing SA tenants in Magill and surrounding suburbs, giving them access to electricity stored in that community battery through South Australia's virtual power plant. The battery stores excess renewable energy from the grid, when it is abundant, for use at later times when demand is low and cost is high.
By doing this it delivers, as part of South Australia's virtual power plant, renewable energy and the cheapest residential electricity rate in South Australia to eligible low-income households. Since it came online it has driven down annual power prices for these households by an average of $562. We're seeing this transformation in our community spaces, too.
At the Hectorville sports club, a vital hub for children's sport and community participation, we've supported the installation of a 60-kilowatt solar system with battery storage through community grant funding, This project is cutting emissions, lowering energy costs and strengthening the club's long-term sustainability, showing how local action with federal support can deliver national impact.
So let's not fall for the politics of pessimism. Let's recognise the progress we've made and reflect on the fact that there is more work to do and that this will be a complex transition but that it's also a necessary transition. Let's work together to deliver energy security for all Australians.