Josh Wilson
Fremantle · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“Tomorrow, every working Australian will receive a further tax cut, continuing the record of the Albanese government in delivering tax relief, especially for low- and middle-income earners. Indeed, the average worker will now have benefited annually to the tune of $2,800 in tax cuts thanks to the Albanese government.”
“This is real change. These are real measures that will make a difference at a difficult time and will build on the work we've done since coming to government in a range of areas.”
“At a time of cost pressures and a time of global turmoil that's created supply shocks and caused inflation, communities around Australia are looking to their government to help tackle those challenges, not with a magic wand but by delivering real change that makes a difference at a tough time.”
“It's a real change that takes courage and makes a difference, which is what the people that we represent rightly expect from their government.”
“I'm grateful to all the members who have contributed to this debate, this conversation, and will answer some of the questions that have been put. I'll start by saying that, in this portfolio area, as across the budget, the government is focused on resilience and reform. We know that we're living through a fuel crisis at the moment.”
“That's why we've made the biggest investment in Medicare in a generation, lifting bulk-billed GP care to 90 per cent by 2030, including through the creation of new dedicated bulk-billing clinics like the ones that have opened this year in my community in Jandakot and Hamilton Hill.”
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“That's why we created the Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative, which the states have put $300 million into and we've put $800 million into. That will see the upgrade of 100,000 social housing dwellings. I went to the launch of the South Australian version of that program with former member in this place Nick Champion, and we visited a house occupied by a tenant, Janet, who'd lived in that house and raised her family there for 35 years. She was getting insulation that afternoon for the first time. I think that's a fantastic and characteristically Labor program to lift up people in social housing at the same time as we deliver a lot more social housing.”
“In terms of distributed battery storage, we've now actually added the same amount in the last eight months as existed prior to the Cheaper Home Batteries Program. There are 250,000-plus households at six gigawatt hours of storage alone. The regulators are observing that that contribution in eight months is putting downward pressure systemically, which is really heartening. There's $1 billion through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation Household Energy Upgrades Fund. That provides green loans, cheaper finance, for people to undertake energy performance upgrades, which can include insulation, glazing, solar, batteries et cetera. We know that the transition should only occur on the basis that we place proper focus on the people who need it most—the households and the parts of our community that face socioeconomic disadvantage.”
“Because the word 'household' is in the topic, I'm just going to try and cover a couple of the more household focused measures that have occurred and that the member for Kooyong didn't cover. I've said we're already the world leader for rooftop solar. One in three households, more than four million households Australia-wide, have it. In some jurisdictions, such as WA, it's two in five. Solar not only makes a big cost pressure improvement for those households; it makes a systemic benefit for the grid as a whole. When we got to, probably, April or May last year, we knew there was a big challenge in terms of distributed storage, because, while we had one in three with solar, there were probably fewer than one in 40 with batteries.”
“If you make some of the investments that the member for Kooyong is talking about—which, frankly, probably come at the top of that list, such as insulation, thermal sealing and, perhaps, window treatments—the efficiency savings and the savings that accrue from having energy efficient appliances can add another $1,000 a year. If you go from a combustion vehicle to an EV, that's probably $1,000 in savings just in the fuel costs, not to mention saving on the operational costs that come from cheaper and less frequent maintenance. We know that that makes a big difference. That's why we're delivering that at the same time that we recognise the systemic benefits.”
“It's needed because the energy sources that we've relied upon in the modern era, over the last 150 years, are themselves finite. There is not an infinite amount of oil, coal and gas, so the transition has to occur. In Australia we have a remarkable ability to do that in world-leading fashion, and we've already seen some of those benefits. The way in which it is experienced by households at a time of cost-of-living pressures is pretty dramatic. The moment that a household goes from not having solar to having solar can save them $2,000 a year. If they add a battery, it's a further $1,000.”
“We've made a contribution to bringing down those pressures in all ways—by seeing real wages rise, by reducing common costs like health and education, by doing things to make a difference for Australian households, particularly for households that face disadvantage and socioeconomic pressures. I know that the member for Kooyong and members of the crossbench have supported that. Almost all of those measures—I don't want to say 'all of them', because there might be one or two that I'd be wrong about—have been opposed by the Liberal and National Party members. There's no question that the clean energy transition is needed for lots of different reasons. It's needed to tackle dangerous climate change. It's needed because that's the way the world is moving.”
“As the member for Kooyong observed, that is putting pressure on energy prices, and that's why our work from 2022 and every year since then has been to provide relief and to take action to put downward pressure on energy prices through our approach, in terms of gas caps and rebates, to move now towards a reservation scheme, which I can say, as a Western Australian, is a very sensible thing to do. This is not just in relation to energy prices. We've made a contribution to recognising that the cost of living doesn't exist in neat compartments. It's something you experience in aggregate.”
“That is seven gigawatts of additional generation when, in the previous decade, we actually saw gigawatts of generation leave the grid altogether because the coalition didn't even have an energy policy through that period of time. They flirted with 22 separate policies and delivered zero. We saw five gigawatts of additional grid-scale battery capacity added last year. That, in one year, is the equivalent of what was delivered between 2017 and 2024. That is real progress, but there's a lot further to go. We know that the effort is occurring in difficult and turbulent global circumstances, from the war in Ukraine, which, sadly, continues, to the fresh conflict in the Middle East.”
“That's why the Albanese government is leading that change in partnership with the broader Australian community—because it's a transition that the Australian community is 100 per cent up for. That also goes for our household sector and for our business and non-government organisation sectors. We know there's a lot more to be done, but the progress we've made is remarkable. People can ask how we are going. I'll tell you how we're going. Last year, in 2025, we deployed more renewable energy and storage than ever before, we saw more new EVs than ever before, and we saw the largest annual reduction in Australia's emissions outside of the COVID lockdown period. That's what occurred in 2025. In terms of renewable energy generation deployment, there was seven gigawatts of additional utility in smaller scale renewables.”
“I thank the member for Kooyong for proposing this topic and for framing it in a way that is characteristically thoughtful, constructive and timely, considering our present circumstances. The fact is that Australia is undergoing a comprehensive energy transition. It's being led by this government in a way that is starkly different from the approach that occurred in the 10 years previous under the coalition—a wasted decade—and it's occurring as part of a global shift being driven by necessity and good sense. It's a change that, for Australia, will mean lower costs than would otherwise be the case, more stability and control, cleaner air and lower emissions, more investments, more jobs and more export opportunities.”
“Australia has recognised Palestine alongside our partners the United Kingdom and Canada and also sanctioned Israeli government ministers for human rights abuses against Palestinians. That is how Australia should conduct itself in accordance with our national interest and our national character—understanding the world as it is but always seeking to influence the world in the direction of justice, equality and sustainable shared wellbeing, all of which can only exist on the bedrock of peace.”
“It is neither naive nor unrealistic to seek to be the friends and allies that great powers need, rather than the friends they might prefer. This government has walked that path. We've sought and achieved an end to the serious encumbrances on trade with China and a resumption of respectful engagement that does not shy away from disagreement. Across two presidential administrations, we have forged new economic and strategic ties with the US while of course being prepared to use our own national interest positions to good effect. We've had differences of approach with the US, including on tariffs, the imposition of which we regard as not being the act of a friend, and, working with the US, we achieved a just outcome in seeing Julian Assange come home.”
“Right now, we have a fresh conflict in the Middle East, and we say clearly that the principles of the Geneva Conventions and the requirements of international humanitarian law must continue to apply— A division having been called in the House of Representatives Sitting suspended from 10:40 to 10:54 As the Foreign minister has said, our posture in relation to this conflict is defensive. We want to protect Australians, and we want to protect our friends in the region. Last week, Prime Minister Albanese and Prime Minister Carney separately made a compelling argument for middle powers to rally around and seek the reform of multilateral institutions while building new collaborative bulwarks against the destabilising and dangerous application of hegemonic power for its own sake.”
“That is why every effort and every emphasis on peace is so crucial. That's why every ounce of scepticism and every grain of peaceful resistance that can be brought to bear against the use of unjustified military force against unchecked state violence, against the idea that some problems can only be solved by war, is absolutely vital. The long, imperfect and inconsistently applied post World War II compact that nevertheless provided the basis for avoiding global scale conflict has frayed and is fraying still.”
“The Fremantle community 'contains multitudes', to use the Walt Whitman phrase. Our social heritage includes crucial Defence estate sites, vital veterans organisations and precious memorials to those who died and suffered in war. But Fremantle is also a place with a sustained commitment to peace. It has a strong Quaker community. I've been fortunate to know, and be influenced by, people across the peace movement who embody a devotion to conflict resolution through nonviolence and to nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. While I am an optimistic and hopeful person, partly by nature and partly by resolution to work towards the possibility of better days, I accept that there will never be a time where humans overcome the tendency to believe there is something to be gained in violent conflict.”
“Yet, in truth, while we reject prejudice and we reject violence, our strongest defence against the worst human delusions and depravities is actually not the delineation of what we are against, but our practice and our promotion of what we are for, of the best in human qualities and the best in human character: kindness; peacefulness; sympathy; understanding; generosity; the courage to care for one another, even as strangers; and love. Like the irresistible Australian summer sunshine overcoming darkness, we saw those qualities at Bondi on 14 December. We have seen them every day since. And we must resolve to lean into those qualities in the days ahead.”
“We are against those things, not, if we're honest with ourselves, from the purity of past conduct but rather from the pain of past experience—especially with respect to First Nations Australians—and happily, and more recently, from our cherished evolution as a remarkably cohesive, fair and peaceful multicultural nation of many ethnic and national threads and of people from a variety of religious or spiritual traditions, or from none.”
“We want to reduce and control access to the means by which wicked people can do harm to others. We want to identify and interdict those who show the rudiments of dangerous hate. Those three imperatives—against prejudice, against the dangerous proliferation of guns and against groups and individuals who are inclined towards hate and violence—are all necessarily cast in the negative. As Australians we overwhelmingly reject prejudice and violence.”
“That is what we're seeking to do here in this place this week, with parliament recalled so that we can begin taking steps that occur alongside an ongoing process of reflection and response. The motion for this debate is part of that. Through the resolute, tempered and deeply compassionate leadership of the Prime Minister, those steps in response began in the first hours after the tragedy at Bondi. To the extent that combating prejudice in the form of vile antisemitism is a vital part of our response, that work is being pursued on a focused and unprecedented basis by this government. The approach required to enhance safety and peacefulness in all our communities is guided by clear imperatives. We want to strive against the ignorance and intolerance that lead to prejudice and violence.”
“Earlier today there was a gathering co-hosted by the members for Kingsford-Smith and Wentworth to honour the contributions of the surf lifesaving community on that terrible day. The president of the Bondi surf club, Liz Webb, reminded us that there were 10 minutes of awful gunfire, but that, in every minute since that time, Australians have reached out to support the victims and their families, to support those injured and traumatised, and to support the broader Australian Jewish community. The fact that there has never been a method or a means, be it secular or divine, to eradicate the capacity for wickedness in humankind does not stop us from striving towards the greatest possible peacefulness, harmony, togetherness and shared wellbeing.”
“From that awful tragedy—from its cruelty, bigotry, madness and violence—Australia embarks on that difficult but necessary journey towards healing through grief and compassion, and towards the renewal of our core values through our unity of purpose. It is unimaginably tragic and against everything that Australia stands for that 87-year-old Alex Kleytman should survive the Holocaust and yet have his life ended by antisemitic violence at Bondi Beach. It is heroically wonderful and a personification of the Australian experience and character at its best that Ahmed al-Ahmed, a Syrian refugee, stood up to violent terrorism, taking a grave risk and being shot himself in order to save the lives of others.”
“Above all else, I express my deepest condolence and sorrow. I bring to this place the heartfelt sympathy of the Fremantle electorate community for the victims, and for the families and friends of the victims, of the appalling terrorist attack at Bondi on 14 December last year. It was an attack that targeted Jewish Australians celebrating the first day of Hanukkah, an observance with the triumph of light over darkness as its theme and a tradition that, when practised here, occurs in the brightness of summer. Of course, it originates in the Northern Hemisphere, where it spans the winter solstice—the shortest day and the longest night—as the year turns from coldness and suffering towards warmth and renewal again.”
“This reform will enhance Australia's energy market governance arrangements, contributing to a strong and independent energy regulator that will ensure energy consumers across Australia are better off for many years to come, and I commend this bill to the House. Question agreed to. Bill read a second time.”
“I thank honourable members for their contributions to the debate on the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Australian Energy Regulator Separation) Bill 2025. The bill seeks to establish a legally separate Australian Energy Regulator—the AER, as distinct from the ACCC—to provide greater management and financial autonomy for our energy regulator, enhancing its ability to manage resources and set its strategic direction. This will allow the AER to respond with agility to changing energy needs and focus with greater clarity on energy security, reliability and affordability for energy consumers.”
“The bill supports the broader energy policy of the government, enabled through the National Energy Transformation Partnership, a framework for Commonwealth, state and territory governments to work together on reforms to help transform Australia's energy system to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. One of the priority themes of the framework is strengthening energy governance architecture. The bill is a necessary and forward-looking reform that helps achieve this priority theme. The government is committed to delivering affordable, reliable, and clean energy for all Australians, and the reforms contained in this bill will help make that vision a reality.”
“Creating a standalone AER will formalise its governance responsibilities, including for managing its budget, human resources and risk oversight. This change will allow the AER to better align its internal operations with its regulatory mandate and strategic goals. This is essential for effectively managing the energy transition, overseeing wholesale and retail markets, and addressing issues like energy affordability and network regulation. In other words, this change will make sure the AER is better placed to do what we need it to do in the best interests of the Australian community.”
“State and territory energy ministers have been consulted on the proposal, and, on 19 May 2023, agreed the AER should be established as a standalone Commonwealth entity. It would surprise no-one to observe that the AER's operational environment has evolved significantly since its establishment in 2005. As the energy market becomes more complex, and with the AER's regulatory functions expanding, the AER needs the authority to manage its own resources and to set its own strategic direction independently from the ACCC. The ambitious scale and pace of the energy transition requires the AER to operate with greater financial and operational autonomy. A distinctly separate AER will provide for greater management and financial autonomy, contributing to the overall effectiveness of the AER as Australia's energy regulator.”
“It has to be acknowledged that several independent reviews have recommended an autonomous AER. In 2015 the Review of Governance Arrangements for Australian Energy Markets, chaired by Dr Michael Vertigan, considered governance arrangements of the Australian energy markets and recommended that the AER should have full management and financial autonomy, which would most effectively be achieved by re-establishing the AER as a standalone regulatory body. The 2017 Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market, led by Dr Alan Finkel, noted the AER's role is highly technical and sector specific, and that by constituting the AER as a separate energy agency we would be mirroring the structures of other energy market bodies and comparable energy regulators in similar countries.”
“This proposed amendment to legally separate the AER from the ACCC will remove the governance risks that hinder the AER's ability to manage its increasing regulatory responsibilities effectively. It will enable the AER to operate effectively as an independent entity. The bill will not change the key elements of the Australian Energy Market Agreement—such as the role and function of the AER as the independent energy regulator, the composition of the AER's board, the requirement for the Commonwealth to fund the AER, and the administrative law arrangements whereby the decisions of the AER will continue to be subject to judicial review by the Federal Court. The national energy laws—which provide the AER with more detailed functions and obligations—will also remain unchanged.”
“Its key activities include energy network regulation, compliance and enforcement, and the performance monitoring and reporting of energy wholesale and retail markets as well as network businesses. Taken together, that is an incredibly important function—as perfectly well expressed in the AER's purpose, which is 'to ensure energy consumers are better off, now and in the future'. The AER currently operates as a constituent part of the ACCC. Both organisations are a single Commonwealth entity for the purpose of the finance law. The AER shares staff, resources and facilities with the ACCC—and as a result, the AER board, which is responsible for regulatory functions, does not have direct control over resources and staff, which remain under the ACCC's authority.”
“I present the explanatory memorandum to this bill and move: That this bill be now read a second time. This bill marks a significant step in our commitment to improve regulatory outcomes in the energy sector, by ensuring dedicated governance and accountability structures that are tailored specifically to energy market regulation. The intention of this bill is to amend the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to separate the Australian Energy Regulator (the AER) from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the ACCC), establishing the AER as a non-corporate Commonwealth entity with operational control of its staff, resources and governance arrangements. The AER is the independent regulator of wholesale and retail energy markets and energy networks, mainly across southern and eastern Australia, under national energy laws and rules.”
“They're backing it in on their roofs with solar panels. They're backing it in with home batteries. We will continue to deliver for the Australian community. Proposed expenditure agreed to.”
“We have seen the number of EV sales triple as a proportion of new car sales. We have doubled the number of charging points around Australia. We've just provided an additional $40 million to support our new 2035 target to add a further 10,000 charging points, which will include kerbside charging for the first time. We've also delivered $1.1 billion to support clean fuels because we know that Australia has enormous potential to lead that work globally. When you get the production of clean fuels—whether that's biofuels, green hydrogen or other alternatives—you get to move off existing liquid hydrocarbons. Not only does that reduce emissions; it helps deal with one of our enduring problems, which is liquid fuel and security. That work is happening. Australians can see it. Australians are backing it in. They're backing it in at the ballot box.”
“You could only think that this is a Freudian expression of the trauma that's going on over there on the other side at the moment. They're a current soap opera—three different prime ministers in nine years. It's barely been five or six months since the election and the Leader of the Opposition's in trouble because people are either walking the plank or jumping overboard from the good ship C oalition . The House of Cards references tell a story. There's definitely a similarity between that famous television series and what's going on on the other side of the chamber. It's not doing the Australian community any great help. I'll turn to the questions that have come from the member for Bennelong, the member for Kooyong and, to some degree, the member for Cook about transport. Transport is an important area of progress.”
“I think the Australian community would reflect on the $75 billion that we've been very clear about in terms of detailing contributions to the CEFC and ARENA—great Labor legacies that helped the coalition to achieve some of the emissions reduction that occurred whilst they were doing nothing else—as well as the investments in the Capacity Investment Scheme, the National Electric Vehicle Strategy, the National Energy Performance Strategy and all of those things. Compare that $75 billion to the $600 billion that would have been put on the tab by those opposite in pursuit of their strange nuclear fantasy. I did find it interesting that both the member for Cook and the member for Wannon keep repeating the term 'house of cards'.”
“That's what we would expect. It is in keeping with our trajectory to 43 per cent emissions reduction on 2005 levels by 2030. I remind people at home that that was a 65 per cent improvement on the target that the coalition set in government, which bore no relation to the science and wasn't consistent with what we need to keep global warming at safe levels and to get to net zero by 2050. We are making progress, and we're doing it in a clear and transparent way. The member for Cook suggested that the government wasn't upfront about the cost of the programs that are involved in the energy transition. We've been perfectly clear about that. There's $75 billion worth of cost in the programs.”
“We're also doing that in relation to the environment, as I said before, both through delivering reform to our national environmental protection framework, which the independent review of Graeme Samuel told the former government that they ought to do but which they never managed to get around to, and through providing funding to protect Australia's threatened species and our vulnerable ecosystems. I just want to pick up on some of the questions that have been put by members in the course of the debate. The member for Cook shouted at everyone and said a few baseless and silly things along the way. Emissions are coming down. He knows that, in the year to March, there was a 1.4 per cent decrease in Australia's emissions. Preliminary data suggest that the emissions to 30 June are down 2.4 per cent over the previous financial year.”
“It is good to have been part of this consideration-in-detail debate. From the most recent budget and the budgets that the Albanese government has previously delivered, I think Australians know that we are focusing on the sensible transition of Australia's energy system because we know it's in our best interests. We know it's necessary because we know that the consequences of failing to do it or of seeing it done in a disorderly way are enormous costs, fewer jobs, lower GDP and, certainly, a worse environment. So we continue to focus on that, as we focus on climate action, which is related to the energy transition, because we need to reduce emissions in order to be part of global cooperative action to achieve net zero by 2050.”
“We now protect more ocean than any other country on earth. The latest budget adds $262 million through the Saving Australia's Bushland program to meet our commitment to protect 30 per cent of Australia's territorial and oceanic domain. That is the work of a serious government that takes both climate change and environmental protection seriously.”
“On the other side, there are people who are, frankly, fruitcakes—people who might want to make a hat out of tin foil or go in for some other kind of behaviour by trying to pretend that all of the overwhelming evidence that climate change is real and is occurring and presents a massive risk to Australia is somehow a figment of other people's imaginations. That is incredibly dangerous. The fact that the member for Flynn stood up and said that and nobody on the coalition side shook their head or looked at him and said, 'Old mate, sit down; that's not helping,' effectively endorsing what he had to say as if some credence should be given to it, should make people worried about the fitness of the coalition for government. We have acted with great, concerted and effective effort when it comes to the environment.”
“There are a range of factors—increased nutrients, outflows in South Australia and rising sea temperatures—which are a consequence of climate change. Just before, at the end of question time, it was interesting that the member for Flynn stood up and said that he accepted climate change from time to time. The issue that he had, and that presumably his coalition colleagues share, is whether or not humans are contributing to it—whether or not greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide, methane et cetera have anything to do with it. That's the open question as far as the member for Flynn is concerned. He said that there were two sides—and there are two sides. On the one hand, there are scientists and people who respect science who can be described as reasonable and adhering to common sense. There are those people on that side.”
“We're never going to back away from that, apologise for that or get dragged into the madness that the member for Wannon was spruiking in relation to his ongoing love affair with incredibly expensive and risky nuclear energy and with various strange, geopolitical uranium arrangements and other things. That's not what the Australian community expects, and we'll have no part of it. I come now to what the shadow minister for the environment was saying. There was the opportunity here to ask questions about the budget, but there was no question about the budget. She was playing political games about a very serious natural disaster event in South Australia, with respect to the algal bloom. We know why the algal bloom has occurred.”
“That includes, of course, reforming the Safeguard Mechanism and making it work, which is something the coalition couldn't be bothered doing, implementing the Capacity Investment Scheme and Rewiring Australia, introducing the first national EV strategy with vehicle emission settings for the first time and implementing the first national energy performance strategy, with $2.2 billion in associated programs. All of those things, which are seeing emissions come down, are seeing Australian businesses and households have the benefit of shifting to cleaner, cheaper, more self-sufficient, more self-controlled and more reliable energy.”
“It is, of course, the GenCost set of energy models and analysis that the government has rightly responded to and respected, because we respect the science and we respect the experts, which is something that the coalition might like to try at some point. We have done what the coalition could never be bothered doing. We have a national energy strategy, which they couldn't be bothered to do for nine years. We came to government and instantly increased Australia's emission reduction ambition by more than 60 per cent, and we're on track to deliver that. We're on track to deliver it because we've put in place all of the programs and the policies that will get us to both 82 per cent renewables by 2030 and 43 per cent emission reductions on 2005 levels by that time.”
“The Albanese government is doing the responsible thing that Australians expect from their government, which is to lead a transition with respect to our energy sector, to tackle dangerous climate change and to deliver greater protection for our environment. The most recent budget continues our work in that area with a number of measures. I'll touch on some of them as I try and respond to the questions that have been asked, and I'll do that in reverse order. The contribution from the member for Wannon just then veered between incoherent and—I don't really know what to say—unhinged perhaps. He constantly refers to the 'cost gen modelling' or 'cost gen'. No-one's ever heard of that.”
“That careful planning and investment, working with the Cook WA Labor government, has made WA the leading large battery jurisdiction in Australia and will support Western Australia becoming the first state to move out of coal-fired power generation. That work is key to reducing emissions as we tackle dangerous climate change and key to creating a cheaper, cleaner and more self-sufficient energy system as Australia achieves our potential to be a renewable energy superpower.”
“Australia has become the world leader in distributed solar energy, and now we're working to make sure that generation is matched with battery storage so we can get the maximum benefit from our abundant sunshine. Our Cheaper Home Batteries Program has already seen more than 40,000 batteries installed, and there are nearly 10,000 registrations under the WA government's battery rebate scheme, which operates alongside our 30 per cent subsidy. The other day I was rapt to deliver on an election commitment to provide a community battery in Coogee, in my electorate. It is one of five new community batteries in WA, adding to the 13 that have already been installed. In March I was glad to join the minister for energy in announcing four new big batteries that will come online by 2027 to serve Perth and the south-west.”
“The Albanese Labor government knows that household solar energy and battery storage is also making a big difference to Australia's clean energy transition, and we're leading that transition because it represents Australia's strongest and most sustainable future. We've already seen a 45 per cent increase in renewable energy generation since the election of the Albanese government, and of course about half of Australia's renewable energy actually now comes from home solar. At the beginning of the Rudd Labor government, back in 2007, only one in 1,000 homes had solar PV. But, thanks to the sustained effort of two Labor governments, now one in three Australian homes benefit from home solar, and in WA it is two in five homes.”
“For example, we've increased Commonwealth rent assistance by more than 40 per cent, we've introduced a new Commonwealth shared-equity scheme and we've provided strong incentives through the build-to-rent program and the expanded five per cent home deposit scheme for first home buyers, which will save thousands of dollars for those seeking to buy a new home. We know the availability of affordable housing has reached crisis levels, and that's why we've provided $43 billion in record funding across a range of programs to deliver more dedicated social and community housing and more support for renters and first home buyers.”
“The Albanese government is delivering the largest investment in new affordable housing since the postwar housing boom. As part of that work, we're supporting priority social and community housing projects across Fremantle, East Fremantle and Cockburn, in my electorate, through the Social Housing Accelerator. That includes projects in White Gum Valley, Treeby, Hamilton Hill, Fremantle, North Coogee, and Coolbellup. This new housing is being complemented by a number of other key measures.”