Press conference with Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Jenny McAllister and Member for Reid Sally Sitou MP

SALLY SITOU: Welcome, everyone, to Homebush West. I really wanted to bring everyone down here so that we could talk about the important cost of living relief measures that the government’s introducing as part of the Federal Budget. And I also wanted to introduce everyone to Jacqui Goh, a wonderful local mum who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting at so many childcare centres and schools. She’s doing a fantastic job.

And I wanted to introduce the Minister for Climate Change, Chris Bowen.

CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks, Sally. It’s good to be back in your wonderful part of the world with such a wonderful member of parliament. Well, as you know, the federal budget contains big measures to help every single Australian - big tax cuts and energy bill relief for $300 for everyone who receives an energy bill. Also, we continue to work on the other things which make a difference – working with the states and territories to enable it to be easier for people to switch to cheaper providers, ensuring that people who are sticking with their energy company aren’t penalised through loyalty taxes.

A lot of the deals that are available for cheaper energy are only available for new customers, not for existing customers. And we are working to fix that. It requires cooperation with the states and territories, but we are doing that and we have budget money to facilitate that regulatory work, which we’ll now work to see in place as soon as possible. None of these measures in and of themselves are a silver bullet, but taken together they are real and meaningful cost of living relief for Australians who, like everyone around the world, are doing it tough in a cost of living crisis.

Also, we know that our renewable energy transformation is one of the keys to longer term savings. Longer term savings by getting more renewables into the system but also longer term savings for families who can make the switch to renewables. And in apartment blocks likes it’s hard to get solar panels and a battery. We’re working to make it easier. We have solar bank deals and social housing deals with the states. We’ll continue to roll those out. And, of course, we have our $1.7 billion package from the last budget to help households and small businesses convert to renewable energy, which we continue to roll out, and Jenny will say a bit more about that.

We know that this budget had two big themes – support for people doing it tough – cost of living relief – and a Future Made in Australia. Short-term support and a longer term plan to build our nation’s manufacturing capacity, particularly renewable energy, which is so key to our economic success.

So thanks to Sally and Jacqui for having us out here today. Jenny will say a few words, and then we’ll take questions.

JENNY MCALLISTER: Thanks, Chris. Well, it’s a chilly morning and we’re coming into winter. And so it should be no surprise that our cost of living package – a key focus for this budget – focuses on supporting households to manage costs associated with electricity.

Now, as Chris has laid out, part of that, of course, means bill relief. Every household gets a $300 rebate applied over the course of this year starting in July to their energy bills. We're also working to make it easier for households to shift so that they can get the best deal from their energy retailer. And in the medium-term we know that there are too many households where energy is simply leaking out the doors and windows, and that’s why our last budget contained a $1.7 billion package to support improvements to energy performance.

There are many changes – technology changes, changes to your building – that can make a really big difference. The key to unlocking this is access to finance and access to good technology. And it’s why we’ve allocated a billion dollars to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to roll out lower cost loans so households can make these important changes. For some households living in social housing, public housing, community housing, this is really hard. And we are partnering with the states and territories to work with them to improve the quality of social housing.

Right across this country there are about 7 million homes that were built before minimum energy performance standards were in place, and there’s a lot we can do to work with households to improve these and make sure that these homes are comfortable and affordable to live in.

CHRIS BOWEN: Okay, over to you. Ashley.

JOURNALIST: There’s polls out today suggesting that perhaps people aren’t as excited by the budget as you were hoping. And just in terms of this $300 bill relief, do you think that it would have been received better?

CHRIS BOWEN: Look, I think, Ashley, the days of people providing a standing ovation for budgets are long in the past. But I am – I’m heartened by the support we’re receiving in the community. If you look at the support for the energy bill relief and the support for the Future Made in Australia package, very strong community support. And that matches the feedback I get, I’m sure Sally and Jenny as we move around the community, people saying yes. Cost of living relief good. Future Made in Australia, very good. Future Made in Australia, of course, opposed by the opposition. Opposed by the opposition, so they have questions to answer about that.

You ask about polling. If I could perhaps take advantage of a segue, you asked about polling –  I saw the National Party Leader out yesterday saying he’s polled the sites of the nuclear reactors and they were all in favour of it. Well, if you polled the sites of the proposed nuclear power stations, you know where they are. So do tell, Mr Littleproud – where are these nuclear power plants? The opposition promised their nuclear power policy in “a couple of weeks” 10 weeks ago. They promised it 16 times before the budget. The fine print shows they didn’t say which budget. But I think most people would assume it was the budget handed down last Tuesday. But now this is quite a big revelation from Mr Littleproud yesterday saying he knows where the nuclear power stations are. Well, the time for talk is over. Come on, Mr Littleproud – where are these nuclear power stations? What’s the details? What’s the cost? What’s the location?

JOURNALIST: Will you be doing an advertising campaign associated with the $300 discount for the energy bill relief?

CHRIS BOWEN: Government advertising campaigns go through a government process, a committee, of which I’m not a member, so I’ll leave that to other members to comment on.

JOURNALIST: Jacqui, can I just ask you - $300 discount off your bill, will that make a difference to you?

JACQUI GOH: I think has a hard-working family with young children every dollar will make a difference.

JOURNALIST: Do you think you will – because it comes off the bill before you get it. Do you think you will recognise that?

JACQUI GOH: I think with the cost of living, $300, even though it’s over a year, will still make a difference, definitely.

JOURNALIST: And that money – so $300 off – will that help you or do you think it will give you a bit more money to go on a holiday or do something else?

JACQUI GOH: Yeah, definitely not a holiday, but with the cost of living pressures, I think $300 on groceries makes a huge difference for every household.

JOURNALIST: On another issue, obviously we’re having this talk about migration given the budget reply speech. The government is also cutting migration. In an electorate like yours, is there a risk that this could be a very problematic policy?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I think, Ashley, it’s important that this debate is handled maturely and sensibly. Now, we have put out plans to deal with international students; for example, which are carefully calibrated, which Jason Clare and Clare O’Neil and Andrew Giles have led. Because this is an important question and we want to ensure that Australia remains a hub for leaders of the future in our region in particular, but we want to ensure that it’s not putting too much pressure on housing in particular. So that’s a careful policy design that we’ve engaged in and enacted.

Mr Dutton on the other hand has just announced he’s cutting migration numbers. Well, I think to your question – which is a good one – constituents in my electorate would like to know is it coming from family reunion, is it coming from skilled migration. Employers would like to know. Family reunion, the waiting time for parents is, you know, well over 10 years, up to 17 years. So is he going to make people wait longer to bring their parents here? Skills, which skilled migration is he going to cut? The employers who rely on a certain element of skilled migration would like to know the answer. If he has a different international students plan, what’s the detail, where’s the meat?

You know, so it’s all very well to give broad sweeping statements in a budget reply. As the next election gets closer he’s going to have to put meat on the bones, as he will have to with his nuclear policy as well. I mean, this was his third budget reply. I think people will give him some leeway for his first and maybe his second – by the way, Anthony Albanese’s first and second budget replies included very detailed policies – but by the third, time for excuses is over. Show us the meat.

JOURNALIST: In the government’s – when you’re reducing migration, it’s going to be 70 per cent for skilled, 30 per cent for family reunion. Is that going to cause some upset, do you think, in some diasporas?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, again, in my electorate, to your question, people have views about migration which you would expect them to have, which are reasonable – which is they want to have a properly understood, well calibrated migration system which gives people a chance, even if they have to wait they know that there is an opportunity. But also in my electorate people are dealing with, you know, transport and all the other pressures that you would expect. So I’ve had, again, in my community pretty good support for what the government’s trying to achieve, recognising the challenges that are involved.

JOURNALIST: Sally, can I ask you: are you concerned that this could turn into quite a divisive debate in the lead-up to the election, with migration being such a hot button issue?

SALLY SITOU: There is real danger if we don’t handle this debate well, and that’s the concern that I have with the discussion that Peter Dutton and the Coalition are having about migration. It needs to be carefully calibrated, and we need to think about the implications for people in this country because we are a majority migrant nation now and many people have links and ties with family overseas. So it needs to be a carefully calibrated conversation. We need to get the balance right. And my concern is that with Peter Dutton and the Coalition beating this anti-migrant drum that we’re in real danger of it becoming a divisive issue.

JOURNALIST: Are you supportive of your government cutting migration?

SALLY SITOU: I’m supportive of my government making a really considered effort to ensure that we get the right skills in the country, that we get the nurses and the doctors and the construction workers that we need, ensuring that we get international students and tourists here to ensure our economy is growing whilst making sure that we think about the type of migrants and the type of community that we want.

JOURNALIST: Assistant Minister, just one for you, when you were talking about social housing and trying to get more solar panels and doing that, do you think state governments and local councils need to do more in the sphere of, you know, strata buildings and also more social housing as well of getting, you know, solar panels and the rules around that?

JENNY MCALLISTER: We’ve been really pleased to be able to partner with state and territory colleagues on improving the energy performance of social housing. We know that the tenants in social housing are often the people who could benefit most from a change to their premises and an upgrade to their premises, but they are also the people who are least able to afford it. And it’s why the budget package last year included $300 million to work with the states and territories to partner with them to improve the energy performance of social housing.

JOURNALIST: Do you think we need to get to a point where it’s mandatory – every new build – at a point, even older buildings, everybody has to have this, you know, solar panels and other measures?

JENNY MCALLISTER: We’re working with the states and territories to uplift the quality of existing social housing. When states and territories are building new homes they’ll, of course, need to comply with the standards for new build. And when we first came to government we lifted up the standard that was required for a new home. A new home now needs to be built to a 7-star rating. That’s really important. Homes that are well built are much more affordable to live in. They’re much more comfortable to live in. And we want to make sure that every Australian is in a position to live in a high-performing home?

JOURNALIST: But what about old homes, getting them up to standard?

JENNY MCALLISTER: And that’s the basis of the package that we put through in the last budget. So $1.7 billion available, part of which allows us to work with the states and territories to uplift the quality of social housing, part of which is allocated to low-cost loans to allow other households to make the investments that will work best in their home to make the choices they want for their families so their homes are affordable and comfortable.

CHRIS BOWEN: All in? That’s a wrap. Thank you.