Labor calls for battery to power Narrabri

The federal election campaign is underway, with political hopefuls hitting the hustings and putting their pitch to voters ahead of the May 21 poll.

The Narrabri region is in the Parkes electorate, it has been held by the Nationals since it was created as a rural seat in 1984 and the party’s sitting Member Mark Coulton has held it since 2007.

Narrabri used to be in the seat of Gwydir, but the seat was abolished in 2006 as a result of an electoral redistribution and it ceased to exist at the 2007 election with most of the division absorbed into the Parkes electorate, the largest seat in NSW.

Mr Coulton is facing six other contenders in 2022, including Labor candidate for Parkes Jack Ayoub who visited Narrabri on Tuesday. Mr Ayoub is optimistic despite having a fight on his hands to win the very safe seat.

“I honestly believe that we are in a position in the electorate of Parkes to see a very considerable shift in the vote and that we have the potential to win,” said Mr Ayoub.

“People have had enough, they want to be listened to, they want to see their region prosper.”

Mr Ayoub travelled to Narrabri with Shadow Minister Assisting for Climate Change Pat Conroy to announce an Albanese Labor government would ‘supercharge the benefits of household solar by delivering a community battery for Narrabri’.

“Today we’re announcing that a Labor government, if elected, will build a community battery for Narrabri,” said Mr Ayoub.

“It’s a visionary announcement.”

“This is a really important announcement, as part of our broader climate policy, which will deliver 600,000 jobs, 500,000 of them in the regions, deliver 82 per cent renewable energy, cut power bills by $275,” added Mr Conroy.

“This community battery will allow hundreds of households in the Narrabri region to connect up to it, to be part of the energy revolution that is occurring right now.”

Mr Ayoub said it will allow local households to feed solar power into the shared battery during the day and draw from it at night – cutting electricity bills and emissions and reducing pressure on the grid.

“More than 1500 households in the Narrabri area have rooftop solar,” said a statement released by Mr Ayoub.

“But the high price of household batteries means families are still struggling to realise the full potential of rooftop panels, and it’s putting more pressure on our electricity grid.

“Of those more than 1500 households, only nine have a battery – less than one per cent.”

Mr Ayoub said local households who might be unable to install solar, like renters, would also be able to draw from excess energy stored in the battery.

“Labor’s Power to the People community battery plan invests $200 million to install 400 community batteries across the country.

“It’s part of Labor’s Powering Australia Plan which cuts power bills, reduces emissions and creates jobs by boosting renewable energy.

“Labor’s Powering Australia Plan has been backed by Australian business and industry and will cut power bills for families and businesses by $275 a year by 2025 compared to today.”

Mr Conroy added, “Narrabri is one of the areas of greatest solar benefits of anywhere in Australia.

“So, you’ve got a great resource here, secondly you’ve got a community that demanded it.”

When asked about the costs, Mr Conroy said, “So the announcement is around $500,000, so the entire community battery program is $200 million and that will fund 400 batteries.”

Rohan Boehm is the director and cofounder of the not-for-profit community energy enterprise Geni.Energy, and he joined the politicians at the press conference.

“We want to have renewable energy right across our shire and to reduce the cost of energy,” said Mr Boehm.

“This is a really important first step, from here on, we would be able to have batteries installed right throughout our communities across the Narrabri Shire.”

At Tuesday’s press conference, Mr Conroy and Mr Ayoub were both asked about morale in the Labor camp after their leader Anthony Albanese stumbled and couldn’t answer questions correctly about the official unemployment rate and RBA cash rate on Monday, the first full day of the election campaign.

“Oh look, I think morale is brimming actually because what you saw was someone of humility and someone of decency who said, ‘you know what, this is the fact, I don’t have it off the top of my head’ as opposed to someone who wanted to go down some political argument and I think that to me, gives me great courage that this man will be a prime minister of integrity and honour,” said Mr Ayoub.

Also seeking to be elected for Parkes are Trish Frail (Greens) Petrus Van Der Steen (United Australian Party), Peter Rothwell (Liberal Democrats), Ben Fox (Informed Medical Options) and Stuart Howe (independent).