Albanese announces 30 per cent off home batteries during campaign in Queensland

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Homeowners will be offered 30 per cent off their home batteries if Labor's returned to power at the next election, in a new cost of living pitch to voters. The prime minister has made the 2.3-billion-dollar pledge at a campaign rally in Brisbane.

Transcript

00:00Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Brisbane rallying the party faithful while presenting

00:07what the future would look like if Labor wins the looming election.

00:13The through line of his speech was now is not the time for uncertainty, it's a time

00:17for building, not wrecking.

00:19And that's the message we've been hearing from the Prime Minister so far this campaign.

00:24There was of course also a big focus on Queensland.

00:26The Sunshine State is largely enemy territory for Federal Labor, it holds just 5 of 30

00:33seats here.

00:34It's seeking to gain the Greens held seats of Griffith and Brisbane while also making

00:38a play for the seat of Leicester in far north Queensland.

00:41The popular Coalition MP Warren Ench is retiring and Labor thinks it has a chance of wresting

00:46that off the opposition.

00:48Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also pledged to spend $2.3 billion to reduce the cost of

00:54home batteries if he wins the election.

00:56From July the installation cost of a typical home battery would come down by 30% or around

01:02$4,000.

01:04With a battery families can store the free energy generated on a sunny day when no one's

01:10home and use it when they need it.

01:12And every household that installs a battery drives down energy prices for everyone else

01:19because it reduces peak demand.

01:22The problem at the moment is the upfront cost of a battery is too high for too many

01:28people.

01:29We're going to fix that.

01:31While 1 in 3 Australian households have solar panels, only 1 in 40 have a battery and so

01:36Labor sees this as the next way to push down household power bills and reduce reliance

01:41on power from the grid.

01:42Energy has been a real feature of this election campaign at a time when cost of living issues

01:48are front and centre of voters' minds.

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