STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Ms JARRETT (Brisbane) (13:37): The people of Brisbane care about our environment, and they support the country's transition to renewables. In 2022, as the candidate for Brisbane, Minister Bowen and I announced that, under Labor, Brisbane would get a community battery. As we know, community batteries are collective energy banks for businesses, homes and community organisations that don't have the means to store their own energy.

Importantly, they're critical as we transition to renewables and remove fossil fuels from our energy mix, and they're critical to bringing down power costs for many people in my community of Brisbane. But, since 2022, the LNP Brisbane City Council has used every excuse under the sun to block the community battery from being delivered. My favourite was that it would take up too much green space.

I'd like to remind the LNP Council that the batteries are only the size of a small car, and, even if it were true, the benefits to the community, the benefits to families and the benefits to the environment far outweigh that challenge. It is now 2026, and the LNP Brisbane City Council are still playing politics. It's not just about Brisbane; that council continues to block a community battery in my neighbouring seats of Ryan and Lilley.

That's three in total. This has gone on far too long, and I call on the LNP council to find a suitable location so that the battery the federal government has ready, which is sitting in a storage shed, can be delivered to the people of Brisbane. It's what they want, and it's what they need.