Tuesday, 4 March 2025

Hastings electorate

Paul MERCURIO (Hastings) (14:47): (1011) My question is to the Minister for Climate Action. Minister, how many constituents in the electorate of Hastings have taken up the rebates from the Solar Homes program? I recently visited Jessica and her wife Jacinta and their three-year-old twins with a member for Northern Metropolitan in the other place. Jessica and Jacinta have recently purchased their first home in Hastings and have worked hard to make it energy efficient. They did this by getting on the Solar Homes program website and following the guidelines to check for their eligibility and downloading the free guides telling them how to create a solar-powered all-electric home. First, they put up solar panels on the roof and followed that by installing proper insulation in the roof also. Then they replaced the existing gas hot water system with a heat pump, which uses 75 per cent less energy than the gas system they replaced. That is money in their pocket not going on bills. Their next project is to install batteries. I congratulate Jessica and Jacinta for embracing the Solar Homes program.