E&OE
RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC RADIO ADELAIDE DRIVE WITH NIKOLAI BEILHARZ
MONDAY, 8 DECEMBER 2025
Subjects: Energy rebates, Community energy upgrades, Algal bloom
NIKOLAI BEILHARZ, HOST: Josh Wilson is the federal Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy and is with us this afternoon. Josh Wilson, welcome to you.
JOSH WILSON, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY AND MEMBER FOR FREMANTLE: Hi Nikolai, good to be with you.
BEILHARZ: The Federal government today has announced that it will not be extending its energy bill rebate beyond December, which is that $300 a year subsidy. Why has that decision been made?
WILSON: Well, as the Treasurer said, we’ve been clear over the last several years that that wouldn’t be a permanent feature of the budget. We acted quickly in coming to government to take the pressure off energy prices. We did that through gas and coal caps. We did that through three rounds of the energy rebates. All of those measures sadly opposed by the Coalition, but we’ve also been taking steps to make an orderly transition and deliver cleaner and cheaper energy to Australian communities, households and businesses, by seeing a big surge in new renewables and storage and energy grid upgrades as well.
BEILHARZ: Is there a risk, though, that people may well have very quickly adjusted to that subsidy and now will think, hang on a second, why are my bills going up so much?
WILSON: Well, we’ve been very clear with the Australian community, and I think that people in a state like South Australia have shown their understanding of the energy circumstances we all face. South Australia is a leading renewable energy jurisdiction, and whilst the energy rebates, which we were clear would never be a permanent feature of the budget, have come to an end, we’ve only just started the new Cheaper Home Batteries program, and six of the 10 leading federal electorates Australia-wide are in South Australia, just reinforcing the fact that South Australians understand that if we take advantage of renewable energy and storage, and we take advantage of better energy efficiency, we bring down not only our own household bills, but we make a contribution to bringing down prices systemically at the same time.
BEILHARZ: You have been in Adelaide today to announce some details around the Community Energy Upgrades Fund. What is that? Is it directly limited to the how much people will pay for their power?
WILSON: No, the Community Energy Upgrades Fund is part of what we are doing to improve energy performance. The cheapest and cleanest energy is energy you don’t need to use, and we’ve done that for households. We’ve done it for small and medium enterprises, but we’ve also done it for local governments. Local governments not only provide some of the most critical facilities in terms of sports and recreation and libraries and other kinds of places, but those facilities come with pretty hefty energy use requirements, and so this fund, the Community Energy Upgrade Fund, supports local governments to implement renewable energy and storage and energy efficiency measures. To take an example, $2.5 million for the Campbelltown ARC in the seat of Sturt that I visited earlier with my colleague, Claire Clutterham, and that is their highest energy using facility within that local government. The measures that they’re putting in with solar and batteries in time to come will significantly reduce the impost on the council for running that facility, and then that both makes them more viable as a local government, but gives them a bit of extra headroom to continue providing fantastic services to their own ratepayers.
BEILHARZ: Or they could cut rates?
WILSON: That’s a question for local government representatives. Obviously, that’s something they can consider, but look, it does make a big difference, and local government has been a pioneer in this space. So it’s not just about them operating in a smart and efficient way, but often modelling new technologies – rooftop solar, batteries, in some cases, shallow geothermal – all kinds of new technologies that reduce energy costs and, of course, reduce emissions at the same time.
BEILHARZ: When we talk about this as an issue, and you’ve mentioned the role that renewables plays, not just around Australia, but in South Australia. You know, South Australia seems to be seen as a bit of a nation leader in things like the uptake of renewables, we get people on the text line saying, why aren’t we rewarded for that? Why don’t we get cheaper prices in SA? What would you say to that?
WILSON: Well, I think a lot of people in South Australia have sort of voted with their feet. I mean, every time a person takes up a rooftop solar and now possibly takes up a battery and decides to be part of a virtual power plant arrangement where they’re getting better value for the energy that they’re returning to the grid, they are seeing dramatically significant decreases in their energy. If people go and put on a combination solar and battery system, it’s up to $1,000 a year per household. And the fact that South Australia has been a leading renewable jurisdiction for a period of time, and now in the first six months of the Cheaper Home Battery program is already at the top of the pops with that new supportive program shows that South Australians completely understand the impact that those measures have on their on their own household prices, and of course, they will flow into systemic benefits too, because it reduces peak demand –that’s when energy is the most expensive, systemically. So even a person who, at this point may not be putting on solar will get the benefit from more solar and more storage. And we’re doing that through the Community Battery program, and we’re doing it also through the Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative, recognising that social housing tenants around Australia are not in the best position to take on that kind of technology, but they are exposed to energy price imposts, and we want to support 100,000 social housing dwellings through that program, in partnership with the states and territories over the next five or six years.
BEILHARZ: Thirteen past four is the time, ABC Radio Adelaide, hearing from Josh Wilson, the Federal Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Josh Wilson, is it inevitable that power bills will go up over time? Is it practical to aim to reduce them, or is it just unachievable?
WILSON: Well, we are making an energy transition that has to occur. You know, under the Coalition for nine years, there was a blind eye turned to the real challenges that occur when coal-fired power stations come to end of life, they become more unreliable and more costly, and the operators aren’t investing in them, and the operators are planning to close them, so that particular situation just could not be allowed to continue. But nothing was done about it for nine years. We’re not going to accept that. We know that there needs to be an energy transition, and the smartest energy transition is an orderly one, a well-planned one, and one that is based on the cheapest form of new generation: renewables backed up by storage. Now in the medium to longer term, that’s going to be to the enormous benefit of the Australian community, both bringing prices down for all of us because renewable energy is the cheapest form of new generation, but also allowing us to go from being, in the first instance, a renewable energy superpower and then a clean industry powerhouse, because that renewable energy will be the basis of new industries like green metals and green hydrogen and low carbon liquid fuels. That’s how Australia in the 21st Century converts our remarkable comparative advantage the best renewable energy resources on the planet, with our investment stability, and our appetite for innovation, we convert those comparative advantages into the kind of trade benefits and technological extension benefits that come from all of that kind of progress now. No price in the world will is likely to disappear over time. I mean, you know, you could look at a cup of coffee – is a cup of coffee going to be cheaper than it is today in 20 years? No, because that’s what happens through CPI. But the path to the cheapest and most stable energy future for Australia is not to have our head in the sand and let coal-fired power close and become more unreliable more expensive, but in fact, to manage an energy transition in keeping with our extraordinary comparative strengths, and that’s what we’re doing.
BEILHARZ: Josh Wilson, you’re also Assistant Minister for Climate Change. On that front, a lot of people have been pointing to climate change and at least asking the question about its potential contribution to the algal bloom that we’ve seen here in South Australia. How strongly do you correlate those things?
WILSON: Well, I respond to the science. I think that’s the most important thing, and that’s what people expect of responsible government, is to look at the science. And what I understand is that there is a number of factors that have contributed to the algal bloom, but one of them is a marine heat wave and rising ocean temperatures. And we know that’s occurring as a result of climate change. Now there are some other factors too, in terms of nutrient concentration and sustained calm weather and other things, but certainly there’s evidence, and the scientific analysis shows, that rise in ocean temperatures is a new risk, and that’s why we’re very focused on reducing emissions in Australia. The most recent annual period showed the largest decrease in Australia’s emissions ever in a 12-month period outside of COVID lockdowns, and we’re also doing that in a global, cooperative manner by submitting our updated 2035 target and the Net Zero plan that goes with that. That’s the responsible thing for us to do in Australia. We are experiencing the impacts of climate change, but it’s also what needs to occur around the world.
BEILHARZ: Do you think that algal blooms will become a regular occurrence in Australia?
WILSON: Well, I wouldn’t want to venture an opinion. I’m not a marine scientist, but certainly, if we see ocean warming, and ocean warming is a factor that makes this kind of event more likely than it was before, then we just need to see that clearly and be prepared to respond to it.
Certainly, the Commonwealth is partnering with the South Australian Government. The support package is now $137 million plus, it includes work on science, environmental restoration and monitoring, but also some support for coastal businesses and communities, tourism and hospitality, because we understand, I mean, I live in a coastal community in Fremantle, in Western Australia, and so I understand how an event like this is serious and it has impacts that need to be responded to.
BEILHARZ: Josh Wilson, thank you for your time this afternoon.
END
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