When opportunity knocks, smart governments open the door.
 
The global rise of renewable energy represents a lucrative opportunity for the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs in this country.
 
But for too long, the current government has ignored the potential of renewables, instead portraying them as a threat to jobs.
 
Under a Labor government, this nonsense will end.
 
Renewable energy is cheap and getting cheaper.
 
According to research by the Parliamentary Library, the price of renewable generation has fallen by as much as 82 per cent over the past decade.
 
In a nation with the best sun and wind resources in the world, lower electricity bills have the potential to unshackle Australian businesses.
 
While it is true that the rise of renewables will create new jobs for engineers and people who make and design products such as batteries and wind turbines, the reduction in power prices will trigger jobs growth across the economy.
 
That’s hundreds of thousands of good, secure jobs for today’s Australians and future generations.
 
When I became the leader of the Australian Labor Party in 2019, I said my ambition was for Australia to become a renewable energy superpower. Since then, I have been releasing concrete policies to drive this change.
 
First, we will create a $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund to direct investment into new, job-creating ventures, particularly in manufacturing, which has shed 90,000 jobs under the Coalition.
 
The fund will use a combination of loans, equity injections, co-investment and lending guarantees to back in companies that see a future in making things in this country.
 
Our ambition is nothing less than a revival of manufacturing built off the back of the availability of clean, cheap energy.
 
Only a handful of electric vehicle models are available for less than $60,000, putting them beyond most family budgets.
 
As a simple example, our nation already produces and exports lithium, copper and nickel, which are critical commodities for the development of battery storage and electric vehicles.
 
My vision is for Australia to look beyond bulk exports and develop our own capacity to make batteries and electric vehicle components for export.
 
The National Reconstruction Fund will also support projects in agriculture, transport and defence procurement, backing up Labor’s plans to harness the power of government purchasing to drive industrial growth.
 
It will be run by an independent board and operate in the same way as the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which has leveraged $2.50 of private investment for every dollar invested and produced a positive return on that investment.
 
Labor will also invest $20 billion to upgrade the national grid, which is unfit for purpose. It fails to take account of the rise of renewables and does not link these new sources up to the national grid.
 
Our Rewiring the Nation project will overhaul the grid to accommodate the rise of renewables and use the detailed project blueprint already produced by the Australian Energy Market Operator.
 
Rewiring the Nation will create thousands of construction jobs for regional Australians, and we will require the use of Australian materials, including steel.
 
The efficiency gains will put further downward pressure on power prices, which in turn will allow businesses to create more jobs.
 
Another way to increase the efficient use of renewable energy is to focus on battery storage.
 
While one in five homes in this country generate their own power through rooftop solar panels, only one in 13 has taken the next step and installed batteries in their own homes to store power generated during the day for use at night.
 
Cost is the roadblock, with home battery systems costing as much as $15,000.
 
Community batteries present a practical solution. They are about the size of a four-wheel drive and can store the excess energy produced by up to 250 households.
 
By using solar-generated power more efficiently, community batteries will help stabilise the grid and, importantly, put downward pressure on power prices, which will also benefit people without solar panels, such as renters and unit dwellers.
 
A Labor government will invest $200 million to meet the upfront cost of at least 400 community batteries around the nation.

We will also make electric cars cheaper.
 
Despite the global automotive industry moving away from the internal combustion engine and towards electric vehicles, less than 1 per cent of vehicles on our roads are electric. In Britain, the figure is 11 per cent.
 
Only a handful of electric vehicle models are available for less than $60,000, putting them beyond most family budgets.
 
A Labor government will abolish import tariffs on non-luxury electric vehicles now being imported into Australia. Under this change, a vehicle such as the Nissan Leaf, which costs about $50,000, will be $2000 cheaper.
 
We will also eliminate Fringe Benefits Tax on electric vehicles that are provided to workers by their employers for private use. This measure will cut the cost of a $50,000 electric car by up to $9000.
 
Australia cannot afford further drift and time-wasting when it comes to renewables.
 
We have an opportunity to act now to secure a better future for ourselves and our children.
 
This opinion piece was first published in the Australian Financial Review on Tuesday, 20 April 2021.