Press conference in Canberra, ACT

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, thanks for coming everyone. Day two of the Albanese Government, the second Albanese Government and, of course, it’s straight back to work. And, of course, one of our key election commitments was to reduce the cost of batteries for households, for small business and for community groups. And, obviously, we are already working on implementing that policy, which will come into force on the 1st of July.

So, it’s great to be here at SolarHub, a great Canberra business, which has already helped so many Canberrans, and I’m sure people of New South Wales as well, with their energy transformation in their household, reducing their bills and their emissions. And, of course, the reason we’ve implemented this cheaper home batteries policy is because so many Australians have got solar panels, highest solar penetration in the world, that haven’t been able to make the cost of a battery stack up financially for themselves. And our cheaper home batteries policy will help big time to do that.

So, for example, the Sigenergy battery, which is very popular at the moment, currently retails with solar for just under $9,000. Costs will come down to just over $6,000 on the 1st of July. And there’s a range of batteries you can get from five kilowatts up to 50 kilowatts of battery under our program, which is, obviously 50 kilowatts is for medium sized businesses, but big or small, whatever the need of the household, the small business or the community group, batteries will become cheaper on the 1st of July.

And I was speaking to Ben before and retailers across the country are telling me they’ve already been deluged with enquiries about the new batteries, about how it will work, and about how people can access the Cheaper Homes Battery policy of the re elected Albanese government.

So, great to be here today to see this policy in action, if you like, even before it’s being implemented on the 1st of July. We’re working very closely with industry on detailed design. I’ll have further consultations with them, with industry, over the next couple of weeks to make sure that every finer detail is as it should be, but I very much look forward to releasing the regulation, which will come into force on the 1st of July after being sworn in yesterday. 

We’re getting on with the job. Cheaper home batteries, reducing bills, reducing emissions – part of our broader energy plan which, of course, was endorsed by the Australian people on May the 3rd, which we’re very grateful for and we continue to work to get job done. Happy to take questions. Dan?

JOURNALIST: The new Liberal leadership has said all of their policies that they took to the last election are now up for review. That includes the commitment to net zero by 2050. What’s your immediate reaction to that? And in terms of, if there was any suggestion of no longer having bipartisan support on that policy, what are the potential implications for investors and so on

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, the first point to make is that net zero is the bare minimum. Net zero by 2050 is not a policy. It’s the bare minimum framework you have to work under. And if Sussan Ley is saying that’s up for review, I mean, she may as well say the sun coming up tomorrow is up for review or the sky being blue is up for review. It’s the basic framework that so many countries around the world are committed to. Now, if she and Mr O’Brien, the new Deputy Leader, are flagging they might walk away from that, that is a huge backwards step.

Australia was way behind the eight ball in getting to net zero under the Morrison Government and at least Peter Dutton, who had a terrible climate and energy policy, was committed to net zero technically by 2050. If that’s up for review, it says a lot, that the Liberal and National Parties did not receive the memo from the Australian people on May the 3rd. 

They said they wanted a referendum on energy. Okay. We had a big debate about energy, nuclear and climate change in particular, and the Australian people, and we say this with great thanks and humility, endorsed the program put forward by the government, backed by the experts. 

If they’re now taking the lesson from that that they will walk away from the bare minimum commitment to the most basic bare bones of climate policy, which is net zero, it shows that the climate deniers like Matt Canavan, will be calling the shots under Sussan’s leadership and Ted O’Brien’s leadership. And the fact that Ted O’Brien, the architect of this toxically unpopular failure of a policy, has been elected Deputy Leader I think tells us perhaps the Liberal Party is not listening to the Australian people.

JOURNALIST: When will we get an updated 2035 emissions reduction target? 

CHRIS BOWEN: After I’ve received advice from the Climate Change Authority and I’ve worked it through the cabinet processes, and then it will be released in due course in accordance with – most countries around the world – most countries haven’t released their 2035 target yet. Of course, people will before COP30, and we’ll – 

JOURNALIST: Is that months or weeks or – can you give us an idea?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I haven’t received the Climate Change Authority advice yet and then, obviously, it will take me a little bit of time to take it through the cabinet, but it will be out well and truly before COP30.

JOURNALIST: Will you need to have a target before the Bonn Intersessional meeting in June?

CHRIS BOWEN: Not necessarily. The Bonn Intersessional is quite soon, so not necessarily.

JOURNALIST: Just following up on Dan’s question about investment uncertainty, given – you know it goes without saying there’s three years of locked-in commitment to net zero and investors have the potential for that to change in three years’ time. What does that do? Do you hold concerns about investment flow to Australia?

CHRIS BOWEN: I’ve always had a preference for bipartisan energy policy if it could possibly be achieved, but the trouble is, you know, it takes two to tango. If the opposition changes approach and is open to bipartisanship, I would be happy to engage with them. But the early signs aren’t good. I just have to call it as I see it. 

The fact that Sussan Ley, as Dan indicated, has put the very basic bare bones on the chopping block of net zero does not indicate a policy of seeking to find bipartisanship. I mean, if I’m at the fire trying to put water on and they’re at the fire putting petrol on, I’m not going to negotiate how much water and petrol. We’ll just keep putting water on. They can put petrol on. That can be their proposal. That’s what they took to the last election. The Australian people cast their judgement over that.

Their lack of bipartisanship previously has caused some investment uncertainty. We’ve seen that in some offshore wind proponents saying, “Well, let’s wait and see the election result” before they decide how they want to handle things. So, that sovereign risk that was created by Mr Dutton and Mr Littleproud was damaging. I hope that Ms Ley and Mr O’Brien take a different approach, but the early signs aren’t good.

JOURNALIST: Ms Ley has said that under her leadership the climate wars have ended. Do you take that at face value?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I find that difficult to reconcile with her statement that net zero is up for review. If you’re going to review net zero, I’m sorry, you’re keeping the climate wars going, particularly if you decide to scrap net zero. That is keeping the climate wars going. Now, if that changes, I understand it’s her first day in the leadership, but if that changes, I welcome it, but the early signs aren’t good.

JOURNALIST: On another topic, the Treasurer is being urged to rethink his super tax changes. Do you personally support the policy as it is?

CHRIS BOWEN: Of course, I do. I’m a member of the cabinet and support the policy. It’s been through all the government processes and it’s the policy we took to the election, and I trust and expect the Treasurer will implement it.

JOURNALIST: One of your close colleagues Ed Husic last week, as we all know, was removed from the ministry. What was your personal reflections on the way that that played out and how do you personally feel as someone that has known him for a long time, you represent similar parts of the world to him?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, obviously, I was involved in discussions last week, and I’ll leave those discussions where they were. I will say that I, you know, recognise Ed Husic’s and Mark Dreyfus’s contribution to the government as ministers. That contribution should be recognised and honoured. And now we move on. The new cabinet has been sworn in. The new ministry has been sworn in, and we’ll get on with the job of implementing the policies and the mandate we’re elected to implement.

JOURNALIST: Does it leave a bitter taste in your mouth and – 

CHRIS BOWEN: Ed’s a good friend of mine and I have a perfectly good, friendly relationship with Mark Dreyfus as well. They both understand that politics is a tough business, and I think they both recognise that. They’re both, as I said, former ministers whose service and strong commitment to the first Albanese government should be recognised and I hope and expect they’ll continue to make contributions in a different perspective.

JOURNALIST: Just one final one on that, are you confident the unity that was one of the features of the previous term, that that will continue in the next three years?

CHRIS BOWEN: That’s our intention, absolutely. I mean, Anthony Albanese has run a very stable unified government and I’m sure that will continue.

JOURNALIST: Just on gas, we saw quite a dramatic shift proposed by the Opposition in terms of domestic gas reservation. Can we expect any review or rethinking of the government’s approach to domestic gas supply in this term?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I mean, we’ll continue with our policy approach, which is to say gas has an important role to play to back up renewables. It’s flexible. A coal fired power station or a nuclear power station are not flexible. Gas fired power is flexible. So, it can be turned off during the day when we’ve got all these wonderful products working well and it can be turned on if we need to at night and it can be turned off again very quickly. 

Of course, it also plays a role in supporting heavy industry while we’re waiting for green hydrogen to become more commercial, and five million homes use it to heat their home in Australia. So, we’re going to need to continue a carefully calibrated policy, including the policies that we implemented, which saw 600 petajoules brought into the local market, domestic supply guarantee. That was appropriate. The Opposition, for all their rhetoric, was talking about 50 to 100 petajoules being important. We brought in 600 domestic supply.

And, you know, there will always be people who say gas has got to leave the system today. That is incorrect. There will always be people who say gas is the answer to all their problems, on the right of the argument if you like. That is also incorrect. We will continue with our evidence-based policy, carefully calibrated, moderate policy of ensuring that ongoing role for gas in the system and, you know, we’ll continue to review the effectiveness of the policies that we have in place and to do more if necessary.

JOURNALIST: You mentioned that the Australian people endorse Australia’s energy – Labor’s energy policy. What kind of mandate does Labor have in energy now and will you be ramping up ambition?  

CHRIS BOWEN: What we’ll be doing is continuing with the job. You know, we set out a policy of getting to 82 per cent renewables. We’re at 43 per cent in the first quarter this year, 46 per cent in the last quarter last year. That’s pretty much in keeping with the way the quarters go up and down, but the trend is very clear. 

We will be continuing with the job. We went to the Australian people and said we have a carefully designed, appropriate policy with a mix of technologies, including gas backup, transmissions, storage, household, community and grid scale, to get to 82 per cent renewables by 2030.

The LNP couldn’t have been clearer that they weren’t in favour of that policy. They said they wanted a referendum on energy policy. I campaigned in every state alongside colleagues in key marginal seats about our policy. We were all, obviously, very pleased with the results in those key marginal seats, and we intend to implement the policy we took to the people.

JOURNALIST: I don’t know if this has already been asked, but the COP bid, is there any updates? Is Turkey any closer to – 

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, again, I was sworn in yesterday. I’ve had one briefing session with my department. I’ve got more today, and when I have more to update on the COP, which we remain very committed to, I will do so, but I remain very committed to hosting COP31 in Australia in partnership with the Pacific. 

It’s a significant opportunity for Australia to help the rest of the world understand the decarbonisation journey for a country that’s traditionally been a large supplier of fossil fuels, to help the Pacific elevate their story, their concerns, and their issues in an unprecedented way, and to bring the world’s largest renewable energy and energy trade fair to Australia.

JOURNALIST: What about offshore wind over this coming term? Can we expect you to ramp up plans to – 

CHRIS BOWEN: What we will do is implement what we took to the election, which is the six zones. Obviously, there’s a little more work to do in the Illawarra, the Hunter and Western Australia, as well as the Bass Strait zone. They’re all at different levels. The Gippsland is the most advanced, but we’ll just continue to implement the policy, including issuing licences where appropriate within the six zones, in keeping with the plan I outlined pre-election.

I do note that despite some of the rhetoric and the argy bargy, there was a swing to the Labor Party pretty much in every offshore wind seat and strong advocates for offshore wind like Alison Byrnes in Cunningham received a big boost to her vote. Meryl Swanson received a swing to her in Paterson. So, I take that as well as an endorsement. As I said in an op ed today, the silent majority say, “Keep going, get on with the job”.

JOURNALIST: Minister, if I can, just on the Capacity Investment Scheme, for investors, could they expect to see a continued growing focus on dispatchable power, perhaps on wind as well? Will solar drop off a bit given there’s a lot of it in the grid?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, again, I have outlined in very great detail the Capacity Investment Scheme. I’ve indicated to the sector the direction of travel, that, you know, there’s an auction every six months. I’ve indicated if there’s changes in those auctions, they will be well signalled in advance to give the appropriate certainty to the industry that, you know, we’ll continue to monitor how it rolls out. 

It’s been very, very successful so far, the Capacity Investment Scheme, the auctions will continue between now and 2027. Not every auction will be exactly the same. We’ll continue to calibrate in response to the market and to the successful bids that we get, but it is the central underpinning of our plans to get to 82 per cent, and we’ll continue to roll it out.

JOURNALIST: Just on COP, have you given any thought to becoming COP president should Australia win this bid?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, that’s something we’ll have more to say when the bid is confirmed. Thank you.

JOURNALIST: It’s not off the table?

CHRIS BOWEN: I’m sure the Prime Minister and I will have more to say about the detailed personal arrangements about how we would implement COP31 on or shortly after announcing we have successfully secured the bid. Great. Thank you.