The release of the NSW and Queensland state budgets reveals a stark contrast in the recognition of the role of renewable energy in securing economic and social benefits.

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey was unequivocal on the central role of the energy transition in economic growth and prosperity. Mookhey emphasised that the renewables transition is a top driver of investment into the state, with renewable energy infrastructure a significant contributor to the 20 per cent surge in investment over the year to the March quarter 2026.

He noted that clean energy transformation is ‘not merely an environmental cause, but an economic strategy’, and that to campaign against renewables, as his counterparts elsewhere and in previous governments have done, is to campaign against investment and jobs.

Home Energy Saver program

A centrepiece of the 2026–27 NSW budget was $557m (previously announced) under the Home Energy Saver program going to households, with interest-free loans of up to $15,000 over ten years to install energy-saving and cost-cutting upgrades.

The NSW Home Energy Saver program is expected to benefit more than 32,000 households across the state by making it easier to install rooftop solar, household batteries, insulation, reverse-cycle air conditioning, switchboard upgrades and draught-proofing.

This is a significant boost for NSW consumers that further turbocharges the massively successful Cheaper Home Batteries program of the federal government that provided a 30 per cent discount to the upfront cost of installing home battery systems. In less than a year, more than 400,000 homes have deployed batteries under the scheme, adding 11.2 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of distributed, dispatchable energy to the grid.

The NSW Home Energy Saver program provides the critical financing support for low- to middle-income earners and households to take advantage of the massive cost savings that are realised through renewable energies. It will also help to safeguard families from inflationary and volatile fossil fuel markets – one of the largest drivers of the cost-of-living crisis that has thrashed Australians.

Support for low-emissions manufacturing to accelerate the energy transition

The NSW government has launched the $480m Net Zero Manufacturing Initiative to fast-track emissions reduction and build enabling technologies for the energy transition.

Building on the $52m provided to four projects across agriculture, transport and electricity decarbonisation streams, yesterday’s budget confirmed $225m across three grant streams to support the development of low-emissions technologies and local manufacturing capacity of low-carbon products, and stimulate local manufacturing of renewable generation,........

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