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The Albanese Government is building Australia’s Future providing an additional $2 billion to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to support Australian households, workers and businesses capitalize on our natural resources and make the shift to cheaper, clean, reliable, renewable energy.

This new investment, provisioned for in MYEFO, means the CEFC can also offer significant savings for households and small businesses making the switch to renewable energy.

The innovation and investment supported by the CEFC helps deliver reliable, renewable, cost-saving technologies to Australian households and businesses, by unlocking an expected $6 billion of private investment from global and local organisations keen to capitalise on Australia’s future energy ambitions.

Australia has the opportunity to become a renewable energy superpower, with the best resources in the world. We have unlimited potential to build a pathway to secure jobs and economic security for all Australians.

Labor’s plan for a Future Made in Australia is very clear: we want Australian workers to make more things here.

This is what Building Australia’s Future looks like and only a Labor Government will deliver it.

In 2024 the CEFC, the world’s largest dedicated green bank, invested more than $4 billion in local projects unlocking around $12 billion in private investment that flowed through to regional areas, local Australian manufacturers and industry, and supported over 4000 jobs.  

The CEFC has a major role in helping meet Australia’s emissions reduction targets with its finance helping deliver projects that ensure Australia’s overall emissions continue to decrease.

For example, the CEFC-backed Neoen Culcairn Solar Farm in NSW is expected to create more than 400 construction jobs, generate enough clean energy to power 160,000 homes and deliver local benefits to the region worth some $10 million over its lifetime.

CEFC finance is also helping deliver Collie Battery Stage 2 in WA, which is expected to deliver some 150 construction jobs to the region.

The CEFC works in partnership with retail banks and consumer bodies to help households and businesses to reduce emissions and lower power bills through delivering low cost loans.

Established by the Labor Government in 2012 and saved from abolition in 2014, the CEFC has investment commitment of close to $18 billion in more than 380 major transactions, delivering estimated lifetime emissions savings of more than 160 million tonnes, and seeing $5.4 billion of this capital already repaid.

While the Government has added specific funds to the CEFC such as Rewiring the Nation, the CEFC’s general portfolio has not been recapitalised since it was first legislated in 2012.

The CEFC’s investments are designed to deliver positive returns, as well as delivering energy savings and emissions reduction.

Today’s announcement builds on the Albanese Labor Government’s announcement earlier this week of a record $2 billion investment in the Australian-made aluminium industry, securing more well-paid jobs for Australian workers in our regions and suburbs.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese: 

“Labor’s plan for a Future Made in Australia is very clear: we want Australia to make more things here.

“This boost to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation is expected to unlock around $6 billion worth of private sector investment, supporting local good well-paid jobs, energy security and economic growth.

“We are building Australia’s future, not taking Australia backwards.”

the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen: 

“The world is shifting to net zero. That means there are big opportunities and big benefits for Australia, so long as it acts now to make the most of demand for clean energy and inputs globally.

“We’re getting on with the changes needed to make the most of Australia’s natural comparative advantage, having some of the best sun, wind, and critical mineral resources in the world.

“Meanwhile Peter Dutton’s only answer to how he’d make things better is to throw this opportunity away, cancel the programs and the projects that are working to make Australia better right now, and wait 20 years to build the world’s most expensive form of power. It’s madness.”

The Albanese Labor Government is building the workforce Australia needs for the future by backing apprentices to complete their trade in the residential housing sector.

The Government will provide a $10,000 incentive payment – doubling the current level of support – to encourage Australians to train for jobs in this critical sector.

The new Key Apprenticeship Program will establish a Housing Construction Apprenticeship stream in response to the Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeship Incentive System.

The review released today found cost-of-living pressures faced by apprentices are steering people away from taking up apprenticeships.

Labor’s plan for a Future Made in Australia is very clear: we want Australian workers to make more things here and that includes building more homes.

From July 1 2025, eligible apprentices will receive $10,000 in incentive payments, on top of their wages, over the life of their apprenticeship to work in housing construction.

Apprentices will receive $2,000 at six, 12, 24, 36 months, and at the completion of their apprenticeship.

Encouraging more people into apprenticeships will ensure we have the workforce to deliver our Homes for Australia Plan, an ambitious target to deliver 1.2 million homes over the next 5 years.

It builds on the Albanese Labor Government’s plan to support more students and trainees through expanding Free TAFE and slashing HECS fees for university students.

The Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeship Incentive System commenced in February 2024 and was led by Dr Iain Ross AO and Ms Lisa Paul AO PSM.

The Review looked at the Incentive System’s performance, how it can align with the broader economic and social objectives of government, and how the system can support high quality apprenticeships.

It also considered how to create a safe training environment for priority apprentice cohorts and the cost of living impacts on apprentices.

The report has drawn on past reviews, research, and input from over 145 public submissions as well as consultations with more than 600 people from across the apprenticeship system.

The Albanese Government is considering the Review’s findings and will consult stakeholders on longer-term reforms recommended by the Review to inform its response.

The Government is also taking additional immediate steps to support the Review’s most urgent recommendations and address ongoing cost-of-living pressures while it undertakes consultation:

• Maintain the 2025 Priority List and extend current Australian Apprentice Training Support and Priority Hiring Incentive payment settings by six months until 31 December 2025. This will provide consistency for employers and cost of living relief to apprentices in priority occupations during the consultation process.
• Increase the Living Away From Home Allowance from 1 July 2025 so apprentices can meet the costs associated with moving to take up an apprenticeship.
• Increase the Disability Australian Apprentice Wage Support payment from 1 July 2025 to support employers taking on apprentices with disability.

The program will allow eligible apprentices in construction occupations to receive an additional $5,000 compared to the Australian Apprenticeship Training Support Payment.

The reviewers final report is available at Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeship Incentive System.

the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese:

“Building Australia’s Future is about so much more than bricks and mortar. It is about creating a better life for Australians. It’s about building better education and creating new employment opportunities.

“Our tradies are the lifeblood of our construction sector, and that’s why today we are announcing that apprentices who finish an apprenticeship in the housing sector will receive a $10,000 incentive payment.

“This will support apprentices with cost of living, while ensuring we have the skilled workforce we need to deliver our Homes for Australia plan.

“Only a Labor Government is building Australia’s future.”

the Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Clare O’Neil:

“We’re seeing more homes built now than when we were elected – and that’s due to the billons of dollars the Albanese Government has invested in programs like Free TAFE and improved support for tradies.

“More tradies means more new homes, so supporting more apprentices in construction and housing is something we need to get right.

“The long-term fix to housing is to build more homes in our cities, suburbs and regions, and that’s why we’ve started one of the biggest home building program in Australia’s history.”

the Minister for Skills and Training, Andrew Giles:

“It is essential that we get the Australian Apprenticeships system right. We need to have a system with more apprentices finishing their training and gaining the skills and qualifications that we need in our workforce.

“The Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeship Incentive System shows apprentices are especially exposed to the cost-of-living pressures. That’s why we are making this initial investment as a first step to help address the financial challenges apprentices and their employers face.

“This cost-of-living measure should encourage aspiring housing construction tradies to take up the call and join this critical workforce.

“Apprentices are the lifeblood of so many Australian industries. The skills they develop are vital ingredients for us to capitalise on our Future Made in Australia plan and deliver the infrastructure to achieve net zero.

“I would like to thank Dr Iain Ross AO and Ms Lisa Paul AO PSM for their comprehensive work in delivering the Review.”

The text of the following statement was released by the Secretary of State of the United States, the Foreign Minister of Australia, the External Affairs Minister of India, and the Foreign Minister of Japan.

Begin text:

We, the Secretary of State of the United States and the Foreign Ministers of Australia, India, and Japan, met today in Washington D.C. to reaffirm our shared commitment to strengthening a Free and Open Indo-Pacific where the rule of law, democratic values, sovereignty, and territorial integrity are upheld and defended. Our four nations maintain our conviction that international law, economic opportunity, peace, stability, and security in all domains including the maritime domain underpin the development and prosperity of the peoples of the Indo-Pacific. We also strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion.

We are committed to strengthening regional maritime, economic, and technology security in the face of increasing threats, as well as promoting reliable and resilient supply chains. We look forward to advancing the work of the Quad in the coming months and will meet together on a regular basis as we prepare for the next Quad Leaders’ Summit hosted by India.

End text.

A new report by the Australian Conservation Foundation, ACF’s “Extinction Wrapped” , has revealed that more than half of the Australian animal species newly threatened with extinction live in NSW. The report also highlights that the total number of new species threatened with extinction has risen by 41 to a total of 2,138 (as well as 107 ecological communities being threatened with extinction).

Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson said “This report absolutely slams the promise from the NSW and Federal Labor Governments that there would be no new extinctions on their watch,”

“The truth is, the Albanese Government more than doubled the area of threatened species habitat approved to be cleared between 2023 and 2024 – as well as walking away from their proposed National environment regulator,”

“The Minns Labor Government in NSW is fully culpable for abandoning our environment and nature, with the Great Koala National Park still being logged almost two years after Labor were elected to protect it, and changes to biodiversity offsets that were pushed through Parliament on the last sitting day of 2024, will still allow critically endangered species’ habitat to be cleared. It’s political failure,”

“The decline in biodiversity in NSW and Australia is a crisis for all of us, we rely on a healthy environment to live. It’s shocking that neither NSW or Federal Labor understand nor care enough about this,” Ms Higginson said.

NSW Species:

Pugh’s Frog

Alpine Water Skink

Hunter Valley Delma

Granite Belt Leaf-Tailed Gecko

New England Leaf-Tailed Gecko

Common Greenshank

Black-Tailed Godwit

Latham’s Snipe

Grey Plover

Ruddy Turnstone

Sharp-Tailed Sandpiper

Terek Sandpiper

A family with two kids in a public school would be almost $2,500 better off every year under the Greens plan to make public schools truly free, and also provide $800 ‘back to school’ payments to parents.

With a minority Parliament looming and the Greens holding three seats in inner-city Brisbane, the announcement is the latest in the series of the Greens’ ‘Robin Hood reforms’ that will be put on the table in any post-election negotiations. 

Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP will make the announcement today at Coorparoo State School in the electorate of Griffith, alongside Greens spokesperson for Primary & Secondary Education Senator Penny Allman-Payne and Griffith MP Max Chandler-Mather.

The bold cost-of-living package would see an annual payment of $800 made to families at the start of the school year for each child attending a public school, helping to meet growing out-of-pocket costs like uniforms, technology and school supplies.

And in order to abolish public school fees and charges and help reverse the cost-shifting that has occurred under Labor and Liberal governments, additional funding of $2.4 billion over the forward estimates will be given to public schools. This is on top of the 100% Schooling Resource Standard funding commitment previously announced. 

Public school fees, charges and contributions rose 20.58% from 2021 to 2022, and school supplies are set to cost an estimated $694 for primary school children and $1,149 for secondary students.

This massive cash boost for working families would be funded by making big corporations pay their fair share of tax. The previously announced Big Corporations Tax frees up $514 billion across the decade to help fund dental & mental health into Medicare, a cap on rent increases & low-rate mortgages, and the Greens’ plan to see the GP for free.

Leader of the Australian Greens Adam Bandt MP:

“In a wealthy country like ours, everyone should be able to afford the basics: a home, food, and world class health and education. 

“Parents are forking out thousands on ‘voluntary’ fees, uniforms and out of pocket costs, but meanwhile 1 in 3 big corporations pays no tax. 

“Governments are underfunding our public schools and shifting the costs onto parents already struggling with the cost of living.

“We can’t keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result. If Brisbane voters return their Greens MPs, they can keep Peter Dutton out and get Labor to act on the cost of living crisis. 

“When a nurse pays more tax than a multinational corporation, something is wrong. Taxing the big corporations to fully fund our public schools, scrapping so-called ‘voluntary’ fees and securing back to school payments will be on the table in a minority Parliament.

“In the last shared power Parliament, the Greens saved families thousands by getting dental into Medicare for kids, and now we want more relief for people doing it tough.”

Greens spokesperson on primary and secondary education, Senator Penny Allman-Payne:

“Public school should be free, but families are having to dig deeper and deeper as fees have increased and the cost of uniforms, school supplies and education technology has soared.

“The situation is so bad that teachers are increasingly having to dip into their own pockets to pay for classroom basics that many families simply can’t afford.

“When I was a teacher I regularly spent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of my own salary to give my students the resources they needed, and I know parents do the same.

“Every child deserves a free, world-class public education, and that’s what the Greens are committed to delivering.

“Getting your child ready for the school year is always a hassle, but it shouldn’t cost thousands of dollars, and our public schools shouldn’t need to rely on the generosity of parents.

“Public schools typically get more than $400 from parents for each student enrolled – not because they want to charge fees, but because they aren’t adequately funded. 

“World-class public education is the foundation of a strong and caring society, and it should be accessible to everyone.”

Greens MP for Griffith Max Chandler-Mather:

“Families in my electorate of Griffith paid over $14 million in public school fees and charges in 2023. That’s about $500 per child. 

“At a school like Balmoral State High School, parents paid nearly $1,500 in fees per student. At Whites Hill State College it was over $2,000. That’s not the fault of the schools but of systemic underfunding from our governments.

“Familes here care deeply about their local public schools, but at the moment it’s getting harder and harder to afford even a public education. 

“Why is it in a wealthy country like Australia, we let 1 in 3 big corporations get away with paying no tax, but we can’t even provide free public education? Getting your child ready for the school year is always a hassle, but it shouldn’t cost thousands of dollars.”

South Australian parents are paying the 2nd highest out-of-pocket fees for public schools in Australia – but today the Greens have announced a national plan to make public education actually free by abolishing public school fees and delivering an $800 back-to-school payment for each public school student as the school year returns.

The Greens will push to give the schools cost-of-living relief package to South Australian parents in the likely event of a minority Government post-election.

Key Points:

• SA public school fees are 2nd highest in Australia, $548 per student in 2022  second only to Victoria – or $94.4m per year across the state
• Greens would abolish public fees & deliver $800 back-to-school payments for each public school student 
• A family with two kids would be around $2,500 better off every year under the Greens plan
• Policy costed by the independent Parliamentary Budget Office & funded by the Greens suite of tax reforms to make big corporations pay their fair share 

 Sarah Hanson-Young is Greens Senator for South Australia:

“Public education should be free, but SA parents are getting slugged with some of the highest school fees and costs in Australia, second only to Victoria. In a cost of living crisis this is one cost the Government can help families with. The Greens will deliver relief to parents by abolishing school fees and delivering an $800 back-to-school payment for each student.

“A family with two kids in a public school would be over $2,500 better off every year under the Greens plan.

“Beyond abolishing fees, the $800 ‘back to school’ payment to parents will help with all the additional costs at the beginning of the school year.

“Governments are underfunding our public schools and shifting the costs onto parents. The pressure of back to school bills is extreme at this time of year and our plan will help cover costs like a new uniform, a new set of books, school shoes and those other expenses so that kids can participate fully in their education.

“This investment in our kids’ education has been costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office and will be funded by making big corporations like Santos, Qantas and Netflix pay their fair share of tax under our fully costed suite of tax reforms.”

In order to abolish public school fees and charges and help reverse the cost-shifting to parents that has occurred under Labor and Liberal governments, additional funding of $2.4 billion over the forward estimates will be given to public schools. This is on top of the 100% Schooling Resource Standard funding commitment previously announced.