ADJOURNMENT
Senator GREEN (Queensland—Assistant Minister for Tourism, Assistant Minister for Pacific Island Affairs and Assistant Minister for Northern Australia) (19:30): Last week in Townsville I met a bloke by the name of Andy. He graciously welcomed me into his home and made me a cup of tea. He is retired.
He's on a fixed income. Towards the end of last year, Andy got a battery installed in his home thanks to our government's rebate. I sat around Andy's kitchen table in Queensland with his wife and his next-door neighbour talking about what a difference this has made to their family.
He pulled up his latest power bill and showed me the front page. It was a zero-total bill. Then, he encouraged me to turn over the page, which showed that he was actually in credit to Ergon.
He showed me the app he uses to check his usage and storage, and he proudly told me about how the area had lost power a few weeks earlier but he hadn't even noticed. Andy is the exact person that our government introduced this rebate for: someone looking to save on their bills, someone doing their bit for the environment and their community, and someone who really needed it.
Andy is among over 1,000 people in Townsville who have had a battery installed, and he is one of 50,000 Queenslanders who've taken up this chance. A lot of them are in regional Queensland. Some of them are on fixed incomes, like Andy.
Those opposite have heavily criticised the battery scheme, which is working right across the country right now. Disgracefully, Senator Matt Canavan referred to it as 'middle-class welfare on steroids.' That is not how I would describe Andy and his family or the savings that they are receiving from this program. While our government has consistently fought to deliver cost-of-living relief, we have seen the opposite from the Liberals and Nationals.
They come into this place with plenty of grievances and lots of complaints. They complain about power bills, but they opposed our cheaper battery scheme. They wanted to deny people like Andy the opportunity to save on their bills.
They come in here and complain about housing, but they opposed our affordable housing bills in the last parliament. They complained about the cost of living for every single Australian, yet, when we went to the election, those opposite were the ones promising higher taxes. They opposed expanding paid parental leave and even adding super on all paid parental PPL.
They opposed our 20 per cent reduction on student debt. They even voted against cheaper medicines in the form of 60-day scripts. When I met people like Andy in Townsville, and I talk to them about what a difference these cost-of-living measures are making, I know that they need a government willing to deliver, not a government that's here to complain about grievances and team up with One Nation for more culture wars and more opportunities to divide this country.
What people like Andy in Townsville need is a government that's getting on with the job and delivering cost-of-living relief to everyday Australians, every single day. That's exactly what we're doing, even in places like Townsville.