Press conference, Gippsland, Victoria

JESS WALSH: So, I'm Senator Jess Walsh, Senator for Victoria, and we're here in Traralgon at the Gippsland New Energy Conference. We've been having a really exciting couple of days talking about the opportunities of renewable energy for this region, talking about the opportunities of offshore wind for this region. It's been an exciting couple of days and we're really excited to welcome to Traralgon, to Victoria, to this conference, to the region, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, who has some exciting announcements to make today. So, thank you, Chris.

CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks very much, Jess, and thanks for everything you do in regional Victoria. It's great to be back in Traralgon today at this important energy conference. Gippsland is at the heart of our energy transition and the Gippsland community stands, with the right policy settings, to be very significant participants in the economic transformation underway, which means jobs, jobs and jobs. Jobs for locals, jobs for current generations working in coal fired power stations, and jobs for young people who want to stay in Gippsland into the future and no more opportunity there than offshore wind. And today I was delighted to participate in the launch of the Gippsland offshore wind alliance, which is the Gippsland community coming together to make sure that Gippsland seizes the opportunities, every single opportunity that's there when it comes to offshore wind. We're making good progress, I've issued twelve feasibility licences. I'll be making further announcements in coming months about the next stage, but the process is working well.

I'm also today releasing the results of our South Australian and Victorian capacity investment auction. We asked for 600 megawatts worth of bids. We got 19 gigawatts worth of bids. And as a result of the high quality of bids, I've been able to award just short of an entire gigawatt of new dispatchable generation. Renewable batteries across South Australia and Victoria. As I said, just short of a gigawatt across both jurisdictions, with six projects. And importantly, one near here, near Morwell, the Wooreen battery.

And one of our key criteria in determining which of those 19 gigawatts we awarded was community benefit. How does the community that's hosting the project benefit from the project? The Wooreen battery, which is 350 megawatts, four hours so it can power 400,000 houses for four hours, also has a half a million dollar community benefit fund, Lighting the Way fund. Half a million dollars separate set aside for First Nations training to ensure that First Nations people can benefit from the jobs. Ten per cent of the hours worked on construction will be for local apprenticeships and 25 per cent of the entire project will be dedicated to local content.

All this is a contractual obligation. Must be delivered for the community as part of the condition of getting government support. So, this is also a down payment on what's going to come. This is a small auction of 600 megawatts. Later this year, I'll be announcing the results of our first national auction of six gigawatts. And no doubt this area will benefit from that auction as well. And the criteria we have for community benefit in that auction are even stricter than the benefit of criteria we had in this auction, which is seeing these benefits flow. And I've just talked about Wooreen. There are other community benefits in the other projects, which are spread across Victoria and South Australia. This energy transformation is absolutely essential for our economic future, but it's also the greatest opportunity our regions have. And all this is at risk, of course, if there's a diversion off nuclear path, which will see investment chilled. But we're not going to be distracted by that, we're going to continue with the investment that this region needs and we'll be delivering that. These projects will be delivered by 2027, and that's as it should be to ensure the new energy is created as coal fired power leaves. And just as importantly, the new jobs are created as well. Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: Minister, it looks like there might be a bit of a gap on the horizon between Yallourn going offline and then the offshore wind coming online. How are we going to bridge that gap?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, by keeping doing what we're doing today. Yes. You know, offshore wind is a big undertaking, a very big undertaking, and doesn't happen overnight. But that's not all we're doing. I mean, the 600 megawatts we're doing today, six gigawatts coming in a very short period in the next auction, all of which will be up and running in 2027/2028 for example. You've seen renewable energy up 25 per cent since we came to office. You've got almost four gigawatts more going into summer than we did last summer. So, the investment is happening today and needs to keep happening and we'll continue to provide the policy certainty to encourage that investment.

JOURNALIST: Why is coming to Gippsland important?

CHRIS BOWEN: It's great to be back. And being in the regions where the transformation is happening is a key part of my job. Yesterday I was in Bunbury, which is some distance from here, about as far away as you can get from here in Australia, which is also where the transformation is happening. You know, the Collie coal fire power station just near Bunbury is closing, they need new jobs. We're going to create 7000 construction jobs and three and a half thousand ongoing jobs up to in the new Bunbury offshore wind zone. I can read all the briefing notes I like, and I do, but coming to communities, talking to community leaders about the issues, the opportunities, the challenges, is a key part of my job. It's part of the job I enjoy the most and it's a very important part of staying in touch.

JOURNALIST: How are you going to be ensuring community resilience as well in terms of as this new energy sort of, you know, gets pumped into the grid? You know, a lot of this area at the moment is still without power after the storms.

CHRIS BOWEN: Look, you know, and I recognise that. And storms, I've got to tell you, storms will happen regardless of what form of energy is being used. They'll happen more with climate change. It's not a natural disaster which isn't caused, which isn't made worse by climate change. Apart from earthquakes and volcanoes, they're not impacted, but everything else is. Storms, cyclones, floods, droughts. So, it'll become more regular. But I want to thank the Victorian essential workers who are working so hard, have worked so hard to get so many people back online after a storm. Storms do happen and will happen well, but the important thing is communities come together to respond. And I know across Victoria and indeed across New South Wales and other states, that's happening as well.

All in, all done? That's a wrap. Thank you.