ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It's great to be here in Castle Hill with Minister for Energy and Climate Change Chris Bowen, with a fellow who's known to everyone, Ian Thorpe, a legendary Australian and a brand ambassador for Fox, who are a battery company, with Dave McElrea from the Smart Energy Council, and our host Kunal Kapoor from RKS Energy Solutions.
It is great to be here, and what we're seeing playing out here is a great Australian story. What we know is that Australia is a world leader when it comes to solar panels on people's roofs. It's not surprising, we live in a vast island continent where there's lots of rooftops, and people have taken advantage of that to lead the world when it comes to rooftop solar, with more than one in three Australian households have solar panels on their roofs. And now we're going for gold when it comes to batteries, making an enormous difference, making sure that Australians can store that energy to permanently bring down their power bills. The good news story here is that not only when someone has a battery to store energy do they put down their own power bills, because it's taking pressure off the grid, it's bringing down everyone's power bills as well. And that's why we're so proud that this week our plan for increased use of batteries has now topped 500,000. This has been an extraordinarily successful scheme. It's creating jobs, it's creating economic activity, reducing power bills, and making a difference to climate change by reducing our emissions. So, this is an absolute win-win. We know that clean energy is where we have to go, and the transition needs to bring the community with government, with the private sector, on this journey, and that's what we're seeing here.
The other important thing to say is that Labor's Cheaper Home Batteries Program is a story of our outer suburbs and our regions. That is where you are seeing the highest take-up, and across Australia, that is the case in electorates, in suburbs, and regions like here in North West Sydney, or in areas of our regions as well. Here in Castle Hill, we've got the highest number of batteries installed anywhere in the country. And we are seeing that roll out, particularly in our outer suburbs, helping families store cheap power they generate during the day, and use it when they need it. This is a fantastic scheme. It's just one example of why we say climate change and dealing with it is a challenge, but it's also an enormous opportunity. And we, as a government, are determined to seize the opportunities that come through climate action. I'll hand over to the Minister, and then we'll hear from our hosts, and then happy to take questions.
CHRIS BOWEN, MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE & ENERGY: Thanks, Prime Minister, and thanks for coming to Western Sydney to mark this important national milestone: 507,651 home batteries installed since the 1st of July last year. Half a million, which is a remarkable national achievement. The Albanese Government and households right around Australia, working together to reduce their bills and the bills for everyone, as the PM said, and reduce emissions at the same time. This is a story of global significance that Australian households have achieved: 14 gigawatt hours’ worth of storage. That compares to 9 gigawatt hours in all of the United States, with a 12 times greater population than us, and we have more home batteries than in the United States, vast majority of which installed since the 1st of July last year.
And also, as the PM said, this is a suburban and regional story. People in the outer suburbs and regions embracing this policy to reduce their bills and help reduce bills for everyone. Here in the electorate of Mitchell, the highest take-up in New South Wales, where the people of Mitchell have installed 6,958 batteries. That's more than 10 per cent of the households in Mitchell. And also, Mitchell has gone from 108th out of 150 electorates, to third across the country and first in New South Wales, which just shows that people in places like this, Castle Hill in Sydney, Tarneit in Victoria, and places just like it across Australia are embracing this policy, and we're putting in around 2,000 batteries each and every working day across Australia. And that has seen households reduce their own bills in many cases to zero, in some cases getting a rebate for the first time instead of paying a bill, and it's been the major factor in the wholesale price of energy falling in Australia by 47 per cent in the last 12 months, and as the IEA report just a couple of weeks ago showed, Australia is one of the very, very few countries in the world which is reducing wholesale prices in the midst of a global energy crisis.
And the final point is this: this is also great for jobs. Here at RKS, they used to have nine staff, and now they have 21, all as a result of the battery policy. And in fact, we now have 8,400 battery installers across the country working for around 2,000 firms. This is a massive increase in employment. Apprentices, who the PM met just before, getting their skills now, which will serve them in the country well for decades to come. So, I'm very delighted to be here in the heartland of suburban Sydney to celebrate this remarkable national achievement, to celebrate a successful policy. Thanks to the PM and to everyone who's come, and we now have much more to do. Thank you.
DAVID MCELREA, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF SMART ENERGY COUNCIL: Well, thanks, Minister, and thanks, Prime Minister. My name's David McElrea. I'm the Chief Executive of the Smart Energy Council, we're the peak body for the renewable energy sector in Australia.
We're here to congratulate the Albanese Government on the extraordinary success of the Cheaper Home Battery Program, a program that they took to the last election and have implemented in the last 12 months. It's an extraordinary achievement to roll out half a million batteries in this time, and you've heard the impacts of that. It's created jobs, and we've seen some of those workers today, thousands of jobs across the economy, helped grow businesses, and these are often small businesses, mum and dad businesses, going out, hiring extra staff, investing in Australian businesses. But most importantly, it's helped with the cost of living, driving down power bills for Australian households. If you buy solar and a battery, your bill can decrease by as much as $2,000 a year. But as the Prime Minister said, it also helps all Australians. It reduces all bills for Australian families. It also gives people energy independence and control over their energy supply. It stabilises the grid and it helps combat dangerous climate pollution. So, it has many, many positives. It's incredibly popular. We've just released polling today, commissioned by YouGov, which shows that three in four Australians support the Cheaper Home Battery Program, and two in three Australians think it's a good use of Government money. So, with all those positives, no wonder it is so popular with the Australian community.
And the last thing I want to say about the Government's investment in renewable energy is it has important implications for Australia's energy, economic, and national security. We're in the middle of winter. It's a beautiful day outside here in Sydney, the largest city in the country, and hundreds of thousands of rooftops are sucking that power down through solar panels and increasingly installing it in batteries. Aussie sun is the best sun in the world. We should be growing our energy here to protect ourselves from energy shocks abroad. Aussie energy for Aussie families. Every solar panel that we put on a roof helps shield Australian households from the impacts of global energy crisis, global energy supply shocks. So once again, we congratulate the Minister and the Prime Minister on this program, and thank them very much for it.
IAN THORPE, OLYMPIAN: Hi everyone, I'm Ian Thorpe. I'm an Olympian and also an ambassador for Fox ESS, who are a battery manufacturer. We're also number one in Australia. I like to be number one. I heard a gold joke before, and as long as we're trying to do these things in world record time, I'll be happy. So, I'm also interested to hear in what the Government has in store for what they can do in the future to be able to support this and support more Australian homes, businesses to be able to have batteries, as we've heard, being able to reduce your own power bills, cost of living crisis that people are going through – this is part of the solution. Being able to have the energy security, but also the security of peace of mind, if something goes wrong, that you have power at home. Being able to put back into the grid when you're getting a higher energy price than what it was for you to be able to consume it. So, it makes economic sense, but right now the other thing I'd like to tell Australians and be able to remind Australians is it's become a lot simpler to be able to do this at home, and you can have a quote, have a look around and see what the requirements are that you need for your home to be able to power it and be able to give back into the grid. It also solves a moral dilemma that we have, an ethical choice that we can make, and is supporting in a future that Australia can run on the abundance of resources that we have, that happen to be the renewable ones. Thank you.
KUNAL KAPOOR, OWNER OF RKS ENERGY SOLUTIONS: Hello and welcome, everyone. Really appreciate the opportunity to host the Prime Minister, the Energy Minister. Growing up, you know, watching him and egging him to win more gold medals. So that was a dream. It's a dream come true for me to have an opportunity to host all of you, and be part of this extremely, extremely important journey that the energy crisis that was happening and how the Australians are transitioning into, with batteries and with Cheaper Home Batteries. I can say, hand on heart that our business has grown multi-fold since the introduction of these Cheaper Home Batteries. It's great to be part of this great Australian dream, being part of, being in Australia, being part of these policies, and hosting all of you guys. So, thank you so much.
PRIME MINISTER: Fantastic, and can I thank you very much for hosting this here, and also thank the workers who've come along here from small businesses, people who are doing apprenticeships as well. We certainly appreciate your time. We're happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on Sydney Airport, the Transport Safety Bureau were only told about Sunday's second incident yesterday. Is this the first for you, the Transport Minister Catherine King? And what resources will the Albanese Government put in place to ensure there's no catastrophic incident?
PRIME MINISTER: ATSB do an important job. As a former Transport Minister, I'm very conscious of that. But it's also appropriate that airports themselves, and that there needs to be immediate reporting of any incident and following of any investigation, any measures which have to be taken need to be taken. My electorate, of course, is very close, basically borders Sydney Airport, and people who use aviation expect to do it safely. We have an extraordinarily safe record here in Australia. It's important to make that point when it comes to aviation. It's been the subject of some good lines in films in the past, you might recall. Showing my age there, perhaps. The Minister has met, I know, with Sydney Airport and with the authorities. And we’ll continue to make sure that we are very vigilant indeed when it comes to these issues.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Nikki Osborne said that she does Shag, Marry, Kill with every guest. Did you and your office know that the question was coming?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you've often spoken about the need to treat women with respect. Do you think it was respectful, appropriate, decent, to go onto a public podcast and discuss when your wife chooses to have sex?
PRIME MINISTER: I've responded to those comments. I've responded on the podcast. The important thing going forward, I do a range of interviews. I'm very broad, I'm accessible to all sections of the media.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can the voters rely on you to tell them the truth?
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely.
JOURNALIST: So, just to be clear, those questions weren't preloaded? You didn't know, didn't have any advance warning?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: You also said this morning that you haven't been criticised for your remarks, but that was part of the criticism within that interview. You said, quote, 'a couple of melons and they were beautiful.' You didn't say anything when Osborne suggested that they were smuggled. You didn't say anything when she took into innuendo. How can you suggest that's not leaning into her remarks?
PRIME MINISTER: You're referring to her remarks, not mine. If you want to refer to my remarks and any issues that you have, please identify what they are.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned this morning, you had a conversation with President Trump on some personal matters. What were those personal names they called? Melons?
PRIME MINISTER: They were personal. And I engage with leaders in an appropriate way. I've developed positive relations with leaders right around the world in our region. When I became Prime Minister, we had major issues with France, with the region, in ASEAN, in the Pacific. Since I've been Prime Minister, we have repaired those relations. Whether it be the positive relationship that I have with President Trump and with our traditional allies, whether it be the fact that we formed two new alliances in the last year with Papua New Guinea and Fiji. The same number – we've doubled the number of alliances that we had when in our first 125 years since Federation. We've gone from two in the first 125 years to four today. And one of the things that we have done as well is develop particularly good relations in our region. That includes with Japan. And I refer you to the Japanese Ambassador's comments who spoke about what a really positive and warm and convivial dinner we had at the Lodge between myself and the Prime Minister.
JOURNALIST: How disappointed are you to hear the Bishop of Broome has been found guilty of sex crimes in WA?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm not aware of that, to be fair. Obviously, anyone being found guilty of crimes is disappointing, but I'm relying upon your word there. And so —
JOURNALIST: It was the lead story on Seven News last night. Should he be defrocked?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm sorry, I didn’t see Seven News last night. We have Parliament. We had preparation for a talk with President Trump. And so, I'm not aware of the details, but of course, sexual crimes are just a tragedy, every single one of them. I spoke yesterday in the Parliament about these issues, and we did a roundtable about violence towards women and children on Wednesday as part of the second action plan that we're developing over 10 years. One of the things I'm really proud of is that under the Gillard Government, she had the courage to set up the Royal Commission into institutional child sexual abuse. That has made an enormous difference to people's lives and people should be, if a crime is committed, any crime, they should be held to account.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I'm going to make a heroic assumption here and assume that our owner here was possibly born overseas. And you've met a whole bunch of workers here who represent multicultural Australia. This is a successful business. When you go around and see Australians, what message do you draw, what inspiration do you draw, what reflection should we all have about the nature of modern Australia and the people who make it up?
PRIME MINISTER: Modern Australia is multicultural. Modern Australia is somewhere where, with the exception of Indigenous Australians, we're all either migrants or descendants of migrants. And they are people who've come to this country sometimes out of necessity, fleeing war or violence, but often are seeking opportunity not just for themselves, but importantly for the generations to come. So, there isn't a debate about multiculturalism that says whether it should exist in the future. It's who we are. It's who we are. And what I see is people who've come to Australia, who are setting up small businesses, who are creating employment, who are proud of who they are and their origin, but are also proud Australians and are making a contribution here in Australia. And that to me is what modern Australia is. Modern Australia is people like our friend here who's making such an extraordinary effort in this business, the other small business owners who we met here as, as well, in a community like this. It's a country with a Prime Minister called Albanese and a leader in the Senate called Wong. It's one of the things I'm really proud about as well is that when I look at the people who sit behind me in the House of Representatives, I see a political party and a government that reflects modern Australia, that has people. I spoke at National Conference about the A's that are there alone as you go through, with surnames like Ambihaipahar and Abdo and others who are there in our Parliament, as well as a Smith and a Marles. That is who we are. And one of the things about modern Australia as well is that we can be a microcosm for the world. We have people in this community of different faiths, of different backgrounds, who are united by their love of Australia, who overwhelmingly live in harmony. And when there's so much turmoil in the world, I want the world to look at Australia and our success and to continue to bring people together rather than seek to divide. That's what I do as Prime Minister. That's what I want. Everyone in my government certainly does, and that's what I want. All sections of our society, we're enriched by our diversity in this country. Thanks very much.