Interview with Sabra Lane, ABC AM

SABRA LANE: I'm joined now by Federal Energy and Climate Change Minister, Chris Bowen. He's with us to discuss the first winning renewable energy projects under the Albanese government's Capacity Investment Scheme to boost green power generation and storage across Australia.

Welcome, Mr Bowen.

CHRIS BOWEN: Good morning, Sabra.

SABRA LANE: We'll get to the announcement shortly. First, your reaction to this [Woollahra] attack?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I think Vic [Alhadeff] put it well, all Australians of goodwill would be outraged. Obviously, I've only seen the report in the last little while, but it is deeply distressing, and we join with the community in condemning what is clearly an antisemitic attack on Australians going about their everyday life.

SABRA LANE: Why do you think these things keep happening despite cautions for people to be calm and for us to be united?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I think the most important thing is that community and government come together, as we're doing. The government has announced Project Avalite, which is the Australian Federal Police working very intentionally with state police to find the perpetrators and deal with the matter, and also a commitment of another $32 million over and above the $25 million already committed to the Jewish community to improve security and safety for the community.

Now obviously, there are tensions around the world at this time, which heightens the prospects for attacks of this nature. It doesn't – it means we work even harder to combat antisemitism and condemn it in all its forms.

SABRA LANE: To the power announcement. It is the centrepiece of Labor's policy to have 82 per cent of energy generated by renewable energy sources by 2030. The government's underwriting new projects offering guaranteed revenue to companies that build new solar and wind farms and battery storage.

Today’s are the first-round winners; 19 projects. What will they do? How quickly will they be online?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, this is a key part, as you said, Sabra, and it builds on our success so far. 2024 is a record year for renewable energy connections, more renewable energy connected to our grids in 2024 than any other year in Australian history, but we need to keep our foot on the accelerator, and that's what the Capacity Investment Scheme does, and the announcement today does.

These 19 projects are more than we scheduled, 6.4 gigawatts, when we asked for 6 gigawatts, 19 projects across New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Queensland, which is enough to power 3 million homes, and importantly, lots of renewable energy and lots of storage, because we need to harness that excess renewable energy in the middle of the day, and save it for the evening, and that's what these projects will do.

I'm also very pleased, Sabra, with the community benefits that we've managed to extract. So $659 million in shared community benefits for those communities that will host these renewable energy projects, $14 billion in expenditure on local content to go into them, for example, and $60 million of local employment just for New South Wales projects. So, this is a very good step going forward.

SABRA LANE: About 35 per cent of our power currently comes from renewable energy sources. The figure – the government wants that to be 82 per cent in five years. That will require a monumental jump in the pace of building new projects and workforce. Can that be done, because the sector is warning it's not happening quickly enough.

CHRIS BOWEN: Can I just gently correct you there, Sabra. It was around that when we came to Office, just above 33, now it's on average across the year closer to 42. So that's relatively good progress for the last two and a half years, but we have a lot more to do to get to 82.

Now we've seen more investment in the last quarter than we did in all of 2023. That indicates to me policy settings that we've put in place are working. We had a very strong pipeline of projects, we had many, many more gigawatts bidding for these gigawatts that we've awarded today than we could cater for. That shows me that the pipeline of the investments is very, very strong.

We're working with states to improve the planning regime to get to faster consideration, whether that's rejection or approval. We're doing that at our Federal Level. The EPBC, Tanya Plibersek has approved more renewable energy projects than any other Environment Minister in Australian history, but we've got to keep going, and that's what we're doing.

SABRA LANE: Will you be hoping that voters forget the promise that Labor made before the last election about power prices being $275 cheaper from next year?

CHRIS BOWEN: No, what we're doing is being very clear about continuing to deliver our policies, continuing to promote more renewable energy, it's the cheapest form of energy as has been endorsed by the CSIRO just this week, despite Mr Dutton's CSIRO denial. They want to produce – 

SABRA LANE: To the question: are you hoping that they forget that?

CHRIS BOWEN: I've just answered that question, obviously –

SABRA LANE: Well, you haven't.

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, very clearly, we –

SABRA LANE: Well, the power prices will not be – 

CHRIS BOWEN: Sabra, if you could –

SABRA LANE: if it wasn't for the government's subsidies – 

CHRIS BOWEN: Sabra, if you could – you've asked me a question, maybe just let me answer it.

We went to the election promising more renewable energy to put downward pressure on power prices, that's exactly what we're doing, that's exactly what we'll to do, and we'll go to the election not only talking about what we've done, but talking about the next steps to ensure more renewable energy, which is good for emissions, good for bills, good for jobs across Australia, and that's what we're delivering today and what we'll continue to deliver if we're given a second term.

SABRA LANE: If it wasn't for cost-of-living subsidies would power bills be $275 cheaper next year?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I don't quite follow the logic of that question. But look, we've just had the largest reduction in energy bills in Australian history, according to the ABS. There's a reduction of more than 30 per cent. Around the world, Sabra, let's just be straight; around the world power prices are under pressure.

The increases in Australia have been less than many other comparable countries. That doesn't make it easier for families, on the contrary families, we know, are doing it tough. That's why we've delivered two rounds of energy bill relief, and not just energy bills, as well the Prime Minister is out there today delivering childcare relief and providing more support for working families who are struggling to get the money together for childcare and making it easier for them to access that.

While we're focused on cost-of-living, the alternative is focused on culture wars and flags and matters which will not provide any cost of living relief to the Australian people. We on the contrary, are focused on that.

SABRA LANE: Chris Bowen, thanks for joining AM this morning.