Tuesday, 31 October 2023

Ministers statements: State Electricity Commission

Lily D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park – Minister for Climate Action, Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for the State Electricity Commission) (14:16): I am absolutely delighted – there is a guffaw over there. I wonder why there is a guffaw over there; you should be ashamed of yourselves for selling off and privatising Victoria’s electricity assets.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the Manager of Opposition Business, I am finding the behaviour in the chamber today very disrespectful. The minister was on her feet, and she was shouted down.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, I would ask you to ask the minister to refer to people by their correct titles.

The SPEAKER: I ask the minister to come back to her ministers statement.

Lily D’AMBROSIO: Sorry, Speaker. Thank you very much. I am absolutely delighted to report to the house, updating them on our ending of Victoria’s reliance on dirty expensive fossil fuels, replacing them with more affordable, more renewable, reliable energy. The SEC is now back. It is now a company registered with ASIC. The Premier and I last week released the SEC’s 10-year Strategic Plan, outlining how the SEC will accelerate us towards 95 per cent renewables by 2035. We are investing already from this last budget – an initial $1 billion to go off and deliver that 4.5 gigawatts of new replacement electricity – renewable storage generation projects, enough to power 1.5 million homes. And there is more. The SEC will manage our government’s VRET project, and that will give us an extra 1.2 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity. The Premier identified, absolutely, that the SEC will be retailing the power to every government school, every police station and every building owned by the Victorian government, which is a wonderful thing. We know that we are absolutely on track to ensure that the SEC has its first pioneer projects announced by the end of the year. We have had a fantastic response from the market, which is wanting to partner with the government to deliver on these projects. Mike Cannon-Brookes, a major investor in the renewable energy revolution, welcomed the SEC’s Strategic Plan by saying:

The strategies and thoughts behind the SEC seen very comprehensive, they seem ahead of most other states, which is excellent.

I could not agree more. This is excellent. The SEC is back for Victorians, and we will back Victorians all the way.