Doorstop interview in Sydney

JENNY MCALLISTER: So today it's been a great pleasure to join a series of industry organisations who've released a really important report. The property industry in Australia has a long and proud history of contributing to energy transformation and to our low-carbon journey. Indeed, through a decade of denial and delay from the previous government, this industry kept the light alive, thinking about ways that they could build better buildings, buildings that were more sustainable and more comfortable for their inhabitants. Today is the next iteration on that journey. It's an important report that reflects collaboration across a range of businesses and industry sectors. I was absolutely delighted to launch it. It will be an important contribution to an important project for our government. The National Energy Performance Strategy will provide a roadmap for how we're going to improve the energy performance of homes and businesses across the country. For many Australians, their home is their most important purchase. And yet many Australians have more information about the energy performance of their washing machine than they do about their home. I was really pleased last week to join the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, Minister Bowen, to announce that in our Budget, we'll include funding to expand and upgrade the NatHERS Scheme. It's a system that allows people to understand the energy performance of their home. It's previously applied only to new homes. We'll upgrade that tool so that we can apply it to existing homes, so Australian households can have better information about the energy performance of the home that they live in.

JOURNALIST: How will that work exactly? How will the average person be able to do this?

JENNY MCALLISTER: Well, the first step is upgrading the tool and making sure that we understand how it applies to existing homes. Many, of course, are decades old, but practically, a homeowner would ask an accredited assessor to come to their house and assess how the energy performance of their home. That'll also give them the information they need to decide where and how to make upgrades that might improve it. It might mean ceiling draughts, it might mean replacing an inefficient appliance. But it'll give homeowners the opportunity to take control of their own energy performance and make decisions that are good for their home and their family across the world.