Press conference, Homebush, Sydney

CHRIS BOWEN: It's great to be here with Karen and Linda and Sally for this important announcement.

To achieve our emissions reductions targets, we need to be all in; the Federal Government, the state and territory governments and local government, all in, working together.

And today's announcement is the next step in that all-in effort.

Today we are opening our funding round for local councils to reduce their emissions and in turn for them to reduce their energy bills, which of course also reduce costs for ratepayers.

Councils are very important parts of our community, providing wonderful community services, like this library, right across Australia. Also big energy users, whether it is council chambers, libraries, or in particular swimming pools, which are of course big users of energy. We want to help councils reduce their energy bills and reduce their emissions.

So our $100 million Community Partnerships Fund is open for applications for Round 1 today. Applications will be open until April, and we want to see projects running out from the second half of next year.

I know we'll receive huge interest from local governments right across Australia. I know mayors and general managers have plans in their top drawer just waiting for someone to come along and help them fund it, and that's what we're doing today, coming along and working with local government to say we want to help you and partner with you to reduce your emissions, and your energy bills in the best interests of your community and best interests of our country.

So I'm delighted to officially declare this funding round open, announced by the Prime Minister and I, and Minister McBain at the Local Government Conference in Canberra earlier this year. We said we'd have it open for applications this year, and here we are today opening it up applications.

I'm going to invite Karen and Linda to add their comments, then I'll come back, I'll touch on some other issues of the days, then we'll take questions.

MAYOR KAREN PENSABENE: Thank you so much, Minister Bowen, and we really do thank their Federal Government for their ongoing support for Local Government initiatives. We've been in the wilderness for 12 years with the Federal Government, and until now local governments have been kept in the dark.

We've had programs and supplies in our top drawer, as you say, for quite some time, and we are so excited that we will be applying for these grants, so we can put on solar panels to our community centres, solar panels to our administrative buildings, and then it will reduce the cost of fees to Council that will reduce the cost to our residents.

So it's a win-win situation for everyone. I know that there will be mayors out there champing at the bit, to get on to this program, and again thank you to our Federal Government that has this initiative and making it possible for us. Thank you.

LINDA SCOTT, ALGA NATIONAL PRESIDENT: On behalf of the Australia's 537 local governments, we're delighted to welcome today's announcement by Minister Bowen of the opening for this important local government energy fund.

For so many years local governments have been taking strong action to address dangerous climate change, installing solar panels on our pools or heat pumps inside our pools to ensure that the energy that is powering our local governments is done through renewable sources.

We know, however, that councils often struggled with the upfront costs of this infrastructure, and so that's why this $100 million fund is so important to Australia's local governments.

We're seeing such innovative action to undertake energy renewal from Australia's local governments; in Lockhart in regional New South Wales, installing solar panels on their Council building, and building up local tradies to help with the maintenance of those solar panels, saving the Council money, saving the planet on dangerous emissions, and building jobs for the future.

These are the kind of innovative results that local governments can produce, and we know that will be turbo charged with this important energy fund. We're so grateful to be here today, with local member, Sally Sitou, a great supporter of local government, and of course with Mayor Karen to celebrate the opening of this important energy fund for local governments.

I'm very confident, having spoken to many mayors and councillors across Australia that this fund will be over subscribed, and that local governments are full of innovative ideas about how to undertake the energy transition in our local areas.

We note the CSIRO's research out just this week highlighting that the cost of energy for renewables is cheaper than any other source of energy. We know that councils are so focused on making those savings for our communities, and of course, reducing our emissions. This fund is really going to make the difference for our local governments across Australia.

CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks, Karen and Linda. I might just deal with two other matters before opening up for questions.

Today the CSIRO and AEMO, our market operator, have released the latest draft GenCost Report. GenCost has existed since 2018 to provide guidance about the cheapest forms of energy, guidance to governments and to investors.

And the draft report today makes it crystal clear, the cheapest form of energy is renewable energy. Renewable energy is cheaper than coal, cheaper than gas, much, much, much cheaper than nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is the most expensive form of energy available.

Now the Opposition has engaged in some inappropriate and improper attacks on CSIRO and AEMO in recent months and have questioned GenCost. GenCost is independently prepared and arm's length from government, by the experts, by the scientists and economists, taking into account consultation right across Australia.

And the GenCost report today takes into account all the costs that go with renewable energy between 2024 and 2030, including transmission and storage, and it still finds that renewable energy is by far the cheapest form of energy, and even if nuclear energy costs fall from 2030 onwards, nuclear energy will be at least three times more expensive than renewable energy and in all likelihood and more.

So the Opposition has some questions to answer today about whether they will continue with their ideological fact free attraction to nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is a fantasy wrapped up in a pipedream for Australia. It also is not available by 2030, so if the Opposition thinks it's going to play a role in Australia in meeting 2030 targets, they are engaging in a fantasy, and they have questions to answer about whether they will stick with this fantasy in light of this report today from our premier scientific agency the CSIRO, and our market operator, AEMO, which has been prepared at arm's length entirely independently of government.

Secondly, today we are announcing the short list of our very important $2 billion Hydrogen Headstart policy, announced in the last budget. Hydrogen has a very important role to play in Australia's renewable energy feature, and a very important role to play in Australia's opportunity to become a renewable energy superpower. It's how we all in many ways export our renewable energy.

I'm delighted to be announcing the six projects on the short list that will now go through for further analysis, and we're inviting further detailed bids from those six proponents, two in the Hunter in New South Wales, two in Western Australia, one in Tasmania and one in Central Queensland.

Central Queensland, Western Australia and the Hunter will be key to our renewable energy future, as will be Tasmania with much exciting work going on in the development of hydrogen in Tasmania.

So I welcome these six projects. There was much interest and many applications. ARENA working through the applications in great detail, has short listed these six, this $2 billion program to support Australia's renewable energy industry and the development of green hydrogen and keep us competitive in the face of the Inflation Reduction Act of the United States and other international developments is vital to our renewable energy future, and I very much welcome the next steps today.

Okay, we have some journalists here, we also have a journalist on the phone, so I'll take questions, and I'm sure the Mayor and the ALGA President and Sally are also happy to take questions. Sally will take the particularly hard questions. From journalists here today or journalists on the phone. Any journalists present? All in? Okay. Channel 7 on the phone.

JOURNALIST: [Indistinct]

CHRIS BOWEN: Yes, the report does take into account those costs, and people have erroneously attacked the CSIRO and AEMO in the past for this, and what they have done, the CSIRO has done is incorporate all the costs between 2024 and 2030 of all the different forms of energy, whether it be nuclear or renewable, including transmission and storage, and still found that renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy.

Now every project has challenges, and this report has found, for example, that costs of wind have gone up around 8 per cent, costs of solar have come down around 8 per cent, and the cost of nuclear is up around 70 per cent over the last year.

So of course, projects will encounter some challenges. Snowy 2.0 has encountered delays, a cost increase, and of course that's just one example, and I've said previously that more work should have been done when Snowy 2.0 was commissioned to ensure the costing was accurate by the previous Snowy management.

But nevertheless it remains a very important project and renewable energy, in all the evidence independently examined by the CSIRO and AEMO, is the cheapest form of energy taking into account all the cost and the Opposition has some explaining to do about whether they will stick with their nuclear fantasy.

JOURNALIST: [Indistinct]

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, of course any matter like this receives full consideration of the government. It will take time to work the issues through and consider the pros and cons. Of course this is the right decision for Australia's national interests and value. We are focused on our region in terms of our efforts, but of course do provide diplomatic support for the efforts in other regions, and this is an appropriate decision after due consideration by the government and relevant ministers.

JOURNALIST: [Indistinct]

CHRIS BOWEN: Yes, and I think politicians do, and I think that's frankly the case across the board. This is not a partisan matter. Members of Parliament need to travel around Australia, that's part of our job, and it's not a part of our job that is particularly – people look to do, you know, this is – we are required to work with every state and territory as a Federal politician, we are required to get around the country, we're required to run our electoral offices who provide support to people, and that does require the dedication of government funds, but of course all decisions should be made with a view to the best interests of the taxpayer when going about that business. I think the vast majority of Members of Parliament across the board do that, and that's reflected in the fact that MPs make decisions that [indistinct] taxpayers' money every day.

JOURNALIST: [Indistinct]

CHRIS BOWEN: No, no. I mean the Prime Minister is required to travel by Air Force as a matter of security. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence has very onerous responsibilities right across Australia and internationally. I mean he has to visit Defence facilities in remote Australia, he has to engage with counterparts, and of course he travels commercial when it's appropriate, he travels with the Air Force when it's appropriate.

Peter Dutton would have been the same when he was Defence Minister. He would have used the Air Force when he was Defence Minister and Home Affairs Minister. He requests the Prime Minister to have access to the Air Force as the Leader of the Opposition. He sends in requests to use the Air Force, so apparently he thinks it's okay for him, but not okay for the current Defence Minister to use the Air Force.

I mean, you know, if the Opposition's going to start politicising these matters, they need to be very careful, because as I said, I think politicians across the board are appropriate in their use of government resources, whether they be in the Opposition or the government, and if the Opposition thinks likewise, they need to be very careful about the facts, because they have used the Air Force when they were in office, and they seek to use the Air Force from Opposition. Very good. I think we're all in, all done. Thanks everyone.