Wednesday, 22 June 2022

Ministers statements: Solar Homes program

Ms D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park—Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Solar Homes) (14:22): I am absolutely delighted to update the house on the commitment of this government to continue to support the solar industry and ensure that all Victorians are reaping the benefits of reliable, safe, cheap and clean energy through the Solar Homes program. From 1 July this year the course Working Safely in the Solar Industry will be added to the free TAFE list. This is great news, and so far we have almost 4500 solar workers who have completed this training, with the course now being expanded to 12 TAFEs, including seven in regional Victoria. This is all part of our commitment to create 5500 jobs through Solar Victoria.

Let me just share the success of this so far. We know of course that the member for Tarneit will be absolutely pleased to know that the suburbs of Tarneit, Point Cook and Truganina continue to be amongst the top 10 Solar Homes suburbs, as will be the member for Yuroke, with Craigieburn appearing in Solar Victoria’s top five locations, with 3800 installations. The members for Cranbourne and Bass will be also pleased to know that their electorates are leading the take-up in the south-east, with Pakenham, Clyde North and Cranbourne East, all of them, sharing 7400 installations. And the members for Lara and South Barwon of course would know that Lara and Torquay are amongst the top 10 in regional Victoria, each with more than 600 applications. Certainly I need to add that the members for Mildura and Shepparton would be absolutely pleased that their cities are solar cities of Victoria, with nearly 2500 installed in those areas. The member from Benambra should not be forgotten in any of this, because we know that Wodonga has got almost 1000 rebates. This side of the house is absolutely committed to ensuring that we have got a trained-up workforce supporting the jobs of the future and clean energy—cheap, affordable, safe—and the Solar Homes program absolutely delivers that.