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| $36 million boost for energy-efficient public housing in South Australia |
Hon. Chris BOWEN MP
“What’s good for the planet is good for your pocket… We
don’t believe anyone should be left behind in this energy transition.” –
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen
***
“We’ve
just heard about the impact that the upgrade of [Marion’s] house in
terms of energy efficiency has made to her bills.” – Member for Boothby
Louise Miller-Frost
***
“We want to improve their lives and lower
their cost of living where we can… it provides really important outcomes
for people like Marion.” – SA Minister for Housing Nick Champion ***
“South
Australia really is a world leader [in rooftop solar]. Here in Boothby,
37,000 houses have solar panels on their roof. That’s world leading.” –
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen
|
$36 million boost for energy-efficient public housing in South Australia
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
DAW PARK
TUESDAY, 15 APRIL 2025
SUBJECTS: $36 million for energy efficiency upgrades in public housing; Labor’s Cheaper Home Batteries policy.
LOUISE MILLER-FROST, MEMBER FOR BOOTHBY: Hi I'm Louise Miller-Frost. I'm the Federal Member for Boothby, and it's wonderful to welcome you here today. I'd really like to thank Marion for her hospitality. We're standing here in her backyard in Daw Park, and we've just heard about the impact that the upgrade of her house in terms of energy efficiency, has made to her bills. So it's my absolute honor to welcome here, Chris Bowen the Federal Minister. And also, Nick Champion, the State Minister. So I'll hand over to you, Chris.
CHRIS BOWEN, MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY: Thanks very much, Louise. It's wonderful being with you in the Boothby community, where you're doing such a fantastic job. And today, we've heard from Marion, about how she's reduced her bills and how happy she is about her public housing Energy Upgrade. What's good for the planet is good for your pocket, and that's the case across the border. We want more people to have the experience that Marion's had in reducing their bills and emissions.
So today, I'm very pleased to be announcing, in partnership with the Malinauskas Government, with Minister Champion and with Minister Koutsantonis, that we are going to roll out Stage Two of our Social Housing Energy Upgrades program. This additional investment of $36 million from the Albanese Government will see an extra 3,500 public housing dwellings, Housing Trust dwellings, receive the sorts of upgrades that Marion has received. This is a good thing. We've rolled out, we've started rolling out round one. Marion's been included in round one. But this has been so successful and so well received that we want to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to participate in the scheme. So this, this announcement today, will take the number of dwellings to benefit from an original 3,500, double it to an additional 3,500. So a total of 7000 dwellings across South Australia will benefit from reduced bills and reduced emissions and better quality of life in their house. That's a good thing. We don't believe anyone should be left behind in this energy transition. Public housing stock across the country tends to be older, less efficient, and it needs this sort of investment. And we have always recognised that states and territories can't make this investment alone. They need this investment from us, so we're very pleased to make it.
Of course, this is not an investment that the opposition is committed to keeping. They don't believe that housing energy upgrades are a good thing. Presumably, it would be on their cuts list. Also, just while I'm here, before I hand over to my friend Nick Champion, of course, a little while ago, we announced our Cheaper Home Battery policy. Now Australia leads the world in rooftop solar, and South Australia leads Australia in rooftop solar, with the highest per head solar penetration rate in the country. And of course, as I said, Australia has the highest rate in the world. So that means South Australia really is a world leader. Here in Boothby, 37,000 houses have solar panels on their roof. That's world leading. But only a very tiny proportion of those would have a battery because it's too expensive. It's been too expensive, and households have looked at batteries and said, 'Look, we just can't make that stack up'. So we're making batteries 30% cheaper. Our Cheaper Home Battery policy, 30% off the cost of the battery if you already have solar panels and reduce your bill by more than $1,000. If you get solar panels and a battery on at the same time, reduce your bill by more than $2,000 and everyone benefits as well, because it's reducing the amount of electricity coming off the grid at night, which reduces peak demand, which puts downward pressure on prices so this is a win win win.
Again, Mr Dutton's been criticising this policy not understanding it and saying the only benefit's are to the wealthy. Well tell the people of Boothby that it only benefits the wealthy because the people of Boothby stand to be good big winners from this policy. If you vote, vote for Louise Miller-Frost, it'll be implemented. If you don't, it won't be because Nicole Flint and the Liberal Party would not proceed with this scheme. So, it's a good day for Boothby. It's a good day for South Australia. I'm delighted with the high level of partnership between the Malinauskas Government and the Albanese government. The Premier gave me a ring last night to talk about our partnership. And there's so much that we're doing together, and so much more that we could do together if we're re-elected on May the third. And we know that this journey of helping Australian households decarbonise and reduce their bills, is so important, and that's why we intend to continue it in our second term.
NICK CHAMPION, SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR HOUSING: Thanks, Chris. Look, it is a really important partnership that we have with Federal Labor, and we need that partnership to help modernise public housing for people like Marion. And you just heard about how it lowered her bill, how it's modernised her home, and how it's improved her quality of life. And we have 33,000 properties in South Australia, some 47,000-odd tenants, and we want to improve their lives and lower their cost of living where we can. So there's a really important roll out, another 3,500 properties. It helps us manage all of those costs, and it's a really, it provides really important outcomes for people like Marion, for tenants like her, helps lower their bills so they can have a more comfortable and prosperous life.
JOURNALIST: Out of the 3,500 from stage one, how many have you got to and how many, how many have taken up the offer?
CHAMPION: There's about 800 contracted this year already. So we're confident we'll do that this financial year. And we just, you know, you understand, with the nature of this sort of work, Alan, that you have to just go house by house. Obviously, our stock is very old. It's on average, 47 years old. This is a house that's built in 2005 it's still benefiting from all of the improvements that you've seen, converting to electric stove, the new hot water system, the lights inside, being, you know, LED lights, all of that really does make really valuable improvements to what is a fairly modern property, but we've got much older properties, and they benefit in a much more greater way from these upgrades.
JOURNALIST: Is it essentially a universal uptake? Do, I mean, does almost all tenants decide?
CHAMPION: Yeah, yeah. Look, look, you have to go, you have to discuss things with tenants. Obviously, that involves their, you know, the house that they're living in, and they're often, they've often got their own pace of life, but it'd be generally, you know, demand is, is bigger than supply.
JOURNALIST: Just, I recall, under the previous state government, and they had a battery scheme that take up was not what they had hoped or anticipated that -
CHAMPION: Yeah, we don't find that no, because there's a chance to lower your bill -
JOURNALIST: And they don't wear any of the cost at all?
CHAMPION: No and people like it, it's upgrades and lowering your bills. So it's a great outcome. And credit to Federal Labor.
JOURNALIST: How important has the environment and hello, Belinda from the Advertiser, how important is climate change and the environment in this federal election? Is it less important this time around? Last year we saw the Teal vote get up and get strong support, not hearing as much about it this time around?
BOWEN: Well, I think it's important because it's one of the key issues facing the future of our country. Climate change hasn't gone away. It's still real. We're still seeing temperature records tumble. That's why we're out there talking about our climate change policies all the time. That's why we're talking about our policy to continue with our renewable rollout, supported by batteries, supported by transmission, supported by gas peaking. That's why I'm happy to be holding press conferences pretty much every day, be talking about our plans.
Now, I'm not sure where my shadow minister is. He's, he's not out and about as much, to be fair to him, he's probably been told not to because they don't want to talk about their $600 billion nuclear plan. They don't want to talk about it. It's, it's, you know, maybe it's hiding under a rock somewhere, but it's still their policy, and it's one of their signature policies. And it's pretty extraordinary that you find us willing to talk about the opposition's policy and point out all its flaws, and them being missing in action. I think it shows that they've realised it's a dog of a policy. The Australian people know it's a dog of a policy. Voters know it's a dog of a policy. And we're happy for that debate to continue right up until election day.
JOURNALIST: Do you see much more room for renewables in the South Australian network though, in terms of how we can implement that?
BOWEN: Yeah, South Australia is again with Tasmania, jurisdiction-leading. That's a great credit to the people of South Australia, but there's always more to do. And of course, we have an integrated grid. The South Australian grid is connected to the eastern states grid. So there's an opportunity for energy trading. So there's always an opportunity to keep going with the cheapest form of energy. The alternative is nuclear - Port Augusta, which would see great investments in renewable related manufacturing hit the fence. It would require new transmission lines, because the transmission lines from Port Augusta are full of renewables already. So this nonsense that somehow nuclear won't need new transmission is a lie. It's very clear that you need to build new transmission lines from Port Augusta if you have a nuclear reactor at Port Augusta.
So yes, there is a role, a very important role for South Australia to play in our drive towards 82% renewables across the country. Yes, South Australia is already at the leading edge of states. But that doesn't mean there's not always more to do, because it's the cheapest form of energy, and it's also a reliable form of energy. Now, we haven't had a day across our energy grid in the last two years where a coal fired power station hasn't broken down, and that's not such an issue for South Australia. But as I said, because South Australia is part of the NEM then it impacts on South Australia. So that's why our plan is best for reliability, best for emissions and best for bills.
JOURNALIST: Just one other quick question around the federal election, are you feeling like you're getting strong engagement in terms of your policies, and there's been a lot of talk about it, not managing to cut through - that we're covering more stories, or hearing more about what's happening in the United States than in Australia or South Australia. How are you trying to address that and cut through those?
BOWEN: Oh, look, I think, I think the election is being engaged with by Australian people. Of course, yes, it's a crowded international news field, not only with the United States, but with events, you know, Ukraine and elsewhere. There's always something to fill the news space. But in any election, you also get people, some people engaging later. Some people don't really start to think about their choice until later in the campaign. We know that. We're aware of that, but we're very pleased with the response from the Australian people to our campaign so far, long way to go. We still think it's close, but we're pleased with the level of engagement we're getting from the Australian people, yes.
JOURNALIST: You're routing about a lot. You're not concerned that you need to spend more time in your time in your own electorate, given I think the Oz was raising questions about what might happen there.
BOWEN: Well, you know, I do spend a lot of time in my electorate, as well as out and about. I was in my electorate yesterday making announcements, for example, opening our new Mental Health Center in Blacktown, for example, which is the Albanese Government, delivering for the people of Western Sydney. The Australian ran a poll. It was commissioned by an independent. That, that poll was received by a fellow Labor Member of Parliament on the other side of Sydney. I wouldn't regard it as accurate. It's a desperate attempt at attention by an independent who doesn't live in my community, hasn't lived in my community for years, was expelled from the Liberal Party and is now pretending to be a community independent and is desperately trying to get attention. He can do that, and the Australian newspaper can take a poll, if they wish, which it's not an opinion poll. It's a, it's an attempt at publicity by an independent candidate who was a member of the State Executive of the Liberal Party just a couple of years ago, on the extreme, hard right of the Liberal Party, and does not live in our area and is now pretending to be a community independent. I'm focused on continuing to deliver for the people of McMahon, and again, I've never taken my seat for granted. There's a long way to go, but I'm very pleased with the feedback I'm getting. When I'm out about at train stations, door knocking, doing my grocery shopping, because I do live in my community, unlike my independent opponent, when I'm out, you know, doing the groceries, people stop for a chat. I'm very pleased with the level of response.
JOURNALIST: Questions for Louise Miller-Frost, just first of all, on this, this is the sort of issue that you think plays well in Boothby. It linked up, of course, with cost of living?
MILLER-FROST: Oh, look, absolutely people are concerned about their energy bills. This is a really practical solution. Whenever we put something out that is about renewable energy and how that can help people with their bills, I do always get people saying, What about renters? What about those in social housing? And this is fantastic to actually demonstrate that the Albanese government, partnering with the Malinauskas Government, is making a real difference. So we heard Marion saying that she thinks her electricity bills will come down by half. That's fantastic.
JOURNALIST: We spoke right at the start of the campaign. Do you feel that the nature or the tenor, or the issues have changed or morphed over the first couple weeks?
MILLER-FROST: Not a huge amount. I mean, obviously what's happening overseas does play into people's concerns. And what I'm hearing from people is that they are recognising that what the Albanese Government is doing is sitting back, taking a calm approach and responding in a thoughtful way about what is best for Australia, and for Australian people, not doing knee jerk responses which don't help anyone. I think that's a really clear difference between us and the Liberals.
JOURNALIST: As far as your own campaign is concerned, with an eye to the polling that's been going on nationally, and whether you have any access to your own figures? Do you feel your position is more comfortable now than it was at the start of the election, given that the change I suppose in the overall standards?
MILLER-FROST: Look, I don't get to see the polling. My polling comes from door knocking, so one door after another, after another, after another. It feels positive out there, but it's very hard to tell.
JOURNALIST: Do you know that's changed over the past couple of weeks?
MILLER-FROST: I don’t know, no.
JOURNALIST: The Prime Minister has been here twice -
MILLER-FROST: You weren’t there Alan!
JOURNALIST: I know, I will be there for the next time. Is there going to be another one?
MILLER-FROST: I don't know. You'll have to wait and see.
JOURNALIST: So if Boothby is still, and Nicole Flint has said that without Boothby it will be difficult for the Coalition to form Government. Do you still see Boothby as a key to the outcome of the federal election?
MILLER-FROST: Look, Boothby is absolutely my 100% focus. I have been door knocking for four years. I've been working really hard for the last three years, since I was elected. That's really what my focus is on people of Boothby making sure that their lives are better.
JOURNALIST: And no commitments on another visit from the PM?
MILLER-FROST: I'm hoping but I can't [indistinct]
JOURNALIST: Sort of on that same sort of thing. Are you surprised that the Federal Opposition leader's only been out once so far.
MILLER-FROST: Well, that tells you all you need to know, really, doesn't it?
JOURNALIST: So what are, what are the three key issues that you are seeing when you're door knocking at the moment, whether it's changed at all, or whether they are still the sort of main ones that you're finding from people.
MILLER-FROST: Look certainly cost of living is up there, and that includes energy prices. So this sort of conversation, I think it was you asked the question about climate change in this election, climate change is a really important issue in certain parts of Boothby. But the energy transition, which is actually about climate change, is pretty much across the entire electorate, people are concerned about that, and they really want to see that we've made great strides. We need to keep going. We can't, you know, have, as we had in the last government, 22 failed energy policies. We actually need to commit and go forward. And we're getting the runs on the board, and people are seeing that.
Housing is absolutely one. And you'd know that I used to run Vinnies and I used to run Catherine house. So I'm heavily involved in the, the homelessness and housing sector, and people are really keen to see and I think they understand affordability is one thing, but supply is actually the key to everything. Supply is the key to affordability, and supply is the key to, you know, my kids, your kids, everyone's kids, having that option to get in to the property market. So those would be the really big issues.
The third one that I get and is very much that access to health. Boothby is a slightly older population. I think we really value our affordable health system here. We look at what we see overseas, and we know that. You know, when you hear about people going bankrupt in America because they got a cancer diagnosis, that's not what we want here, the sorts of things that we've been able to announce here. So the Mental Health Clinic, which I'm very jealous, Chris, we just got an announcement that we'll be getting one. You've already got it so that, I think will be really wonderful. The eating disorder clinic around the corner at Re-pat, the Urgent Care Clinic, which I think is around 17.500 visits now so far. That is a really important way to keep people out of the emergency department who don't need to be there, and freeing up doctors and nurses there to actually deal with the emergencies. And of course, the rebuild at Flinders Medical Center, 52 new beds open so far, there 160 all up. That is going to be absolutely game changing. You know, I mean, it's a 50 year old facility. It looks it now. Hospitals are different now, and you know, as a major tertiary hospital for the southern suburbs and southern regional areas, we need this to be up to speed. |
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