MOTIONS

Ms KARA COOK (Bonner) (17:30): I move: That this House: (1) notes that: (a) 1 July 2026 marks one year since the Government launched the Cheaper Home Batteries Program, providing a discount of around 30 per cent on the cost of a typical home battery; and (b) in that time, more than 450,000 Australian households have installed a cheaper home battery; (2) commends the Government on one year of the Cheaper Home Batteries Program, which has delivered real cost of living relief to hundreds of thousands of Australian families and small businesses; (3) welcomes the Australian Energy Market Operator's findings last week that these batteries are already 'helping to moderate prices during evening peaks and to support grid reliability and security as coal plants withdraw'; and (4) supports the Government as it continues to make clean energy more affordable for all Australians.

When I first tabled this motion, more than 450,000 cheaper home batteries had been installed right across Australia. Today that number has already passed 500,000. In just a matter of months, tens of thousands more Australian households, small businesses and community groups have taken up this program.

And what does that say about this program? It says Australians want cheaper energy, they want more control over their power bills and, when we make clean-energy technology more affordable, Australians are ready to embrace it. I've seen this firsthand in my own community of Bonner.

More than 4,300 cheaper home batteries have already been installed in Bonner, making us one of the leading electorates in Queensland for installations. Behind every one of those batteries is a household making a practical decision about how they can bring down their power bills and get more value from the solar energy they are already generating. Just over a year ago, the Albanese Labor government launched the Cheaper Home Batteries Program.

The idea was pretty simple: we would help bring down the upfront cost of a typical home battery by around 30 per cent so more Australians could afford one. For many households it is a game changer, saving families $1,000 or more on their energy bills each and every year. Anyone who drives around my community knows just how many rooftop solar systems there are in Bonner.

Across Brisbane's east and bayside, there are solar panels on roof after roof. Australians have already embraced the opportunity to generate their own cheap, clean energy. The next step is helping them keep more of it.

A battery means the solar generated while you're at work or the kids are at school can be stored and used later. It is common sense and it is working. Those opposite like to suggest that programs like this are somehow just for wealthy people in the inner-city suburbs.

The facts tell a very different story. More than three-quarters of the batteries installed through this program have been in outer suburban and regional communities. This is not an inner city story; this is a story about the suburbs and the regions right across our country.

It is a story in communities like mine in the outer suburbs of Brisbane. The Australian Energy Market Operator has found that these batteries are already helping to moderate prices during evening peaks and support grid reliability and security as ageing coal-fired power stations withdraw. Labor's Cheaper Home Batteries Program is good for bills and good for the grid.

We make better use of the enormous amount of solar Australia is already producing and we help bring down the costs of electricity at times when it is most expensive, so, even if you don't have a battery or even solar panels, you benefit from a stronger, more efficient energy system. Energy policy can sometimes seem complicated. We talk about generation, transmission, megawatts and wholesale markets, but for families in the community that I represent the question is much simpler: what does this mean for my power bill?

Labor's plan is about more cheap, clean energy and a better deal for Australian households. So, when I look back at the motion that I submitted just a few months ago and see a figure of 450,000 installations and know that today it is over half a million, I'm proud that that original figure is already out of date. This program is practical.

It is incredibly popular and, most importantly, it is delivering real savings for Australian families right across the country but also for over 4,000 families in my local community of Bonner. I commend the motion to the chamber. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Aldred ): Is the motion seconded?

Ms Ambihaipahar: I second the motion.