ANIKA WELLS MP
MINISTER FOR AGED CARE
MINISTER FOR SPORT

TRANSCRIPT - SKY NEWS WITH ANDREW CLENNELL - 6 APRIL 2025

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS WITH ANDREW CLENNELL
SUNDAY, 6 APRIL 2025

SUBJECTS: Labor’s Cheaper Home Batteries; Peter Dutton’s $600 Billion Nuclear Plan; Aged Care Portfolio.

ANDREW CLENNELL, HOST: Well, leading a rally involving Queensland candidates today is Queensland Cabinet Minister and Aged Care and Sport Minister Anika Wells, who joins me now. Anika Wells thanks for your time. So, this announcement around 30 per cent subsidy of household batteries, how much is it - typical household battery? How much will this save the people and how does it work?

ANIKA WELLS, MINISTER FOR AGED CARE AND SPORT, MEMBER FOR LILLEY: It’ll save people up to four grand, we reckon, and it will kick off from 1 July; and it’s going to try and address that upfront cost that stops households from getting into this space. We know here that 1 in 3 people have solar panels, but only 1 in 40 have a household battery. We want to do something tangible to help people do that, and we’ll do that from 1 July.

CLENNELL: So, four grand, 30 per cent subsidy; that means a battery must be about 12 grand. That’s a lot, isn’t it? It’s still a lot for a household sort of. Will it be enough of an incentive to get people to fork out that other eight grand when they are already copping it in terms of electricity bill increases.

WELLS: We certainly hope so. Obviously, people make this decision because they want long-term renewables. They want long term energy reduction in their bills, and we want to help them do that. 30 per cent is a lot, like you say, up to 4 grand is a lot to contribute. But it’s important that we do that, and we know that people want to because 1 in 3 people have solar panels, they’ve taken that step, which has upfront costs and helps them deliver cheaper energy. We want to help them with household batteries. I was at a place in Geebung yesterday; they’ve got a household battery. They had to do all their own research themselves, but they wanted to because of the benefits, and we want to make sure that more people like that house in Geebung can share those benefits.

CLENNELL: And the press release has a cost associated with it of $2.3 billion. Is that across the forward estimates?

WELLS: That was accounted for in the Budget that Jim Chalmers just announced. We said that we’d have more to say about cost-of-living measures. This is one of them, and I’m really excited to be able to go and continue to doorknock and talk about this here on the north side of Brisbane, where people, I think, are feeling pretty positive about Labors offering so far this election.

CLENNELL: How many? I assume it’s over four years. Anyway, you haven’t confirmed that there. How many people does the government expect to take up this subsidy?

WELLS: Look, I’m not sure. To be honest I think we’ve said that we’ll do it from the 1 July if we’re re-elected. Weve said that people will be able to save up to $4,000. We know that, like you’ve said in your introduction Queensland has the highest uptake of solar panels, slightly over New South Wales. We always love to get one over New South Wales. We know that, like I said doorknocking yesterday, that house in Geebung already had one; a bit ‘shirty’ maybe to miss the discount that they now would have been eligible for on 1 July but pleased to know that other people out there making that choice will be able to access it with up to 4 grand off the cost.

CLENNELL: Have any calculations been done on how much this might cut emissions by? Because I notice the sell is around saving on your power bills here, not so much on the environment.

WELLS: We’re deep into questions for the Minister for Energy. Now, Andrew, here in Lilley, we are looking forward to people being able to take up the cost of households that take up the household battery option, because it not only gives them the long-term reduction off the cost of their energy bills, but it helps us secure our renewables future here. Lilley, my electorate. I think we’re in the top 10 electorates who take up solar panels across the country. This is a welcome cost of loving relief in a space that people have said is of importance to them. It’s part of why you can see that Federal Labor is listening to people and is delivering actual cost of living measures that people are actually seeking, as out policy offering for a second term. Compared to Peter Dutton, who has offered a $600 billion nuclear fantasy which, let me tell you, doorknocking in Stafford Heights this week absolutely no one believes is credible. Peter Dutton has demonstrated, in Port of Darwin you were talking about in your introduction, something that he abolished, something that he flogged off as Defence Minister in the Cabinet; he’s now said he’d love to buy back. It’s just not credible what he’s offering. People are telling me that he isn’t ready to govern, and I agree with them.

CLENNELL: Well, I’ve been deep into questions for the Minister for Energy. If the Minister for Energy would ever come on Sky for this program Anika Wells. Now, is this partly aimed at beating off the Greens in seats like Griffith and Brisbane?

WELLS: It is firmly aimed at helping households here in Queensland secure cheaper energy. That's important for us. It's important for our renewable’s future. It's important cost of living measure. Certainly. I hope it will help us win the seat of Griffith. We've got a great candidate there, Renee Coffey. She's been so good on the ground. People seem to be really warming to her. And if that would help us take that seat back, I'd be very happy to hear that. This was one of the measures that helped secure the confidence of the voters of Griffith for a second term. Albanese Government.

CLENNELL: In the last 2 elections, Queensland has been a challenging state for Labor. You're holding a rally with the candidates today. Do you think your chances are better this time and if so, why?

WELLS: Absolutely I do, because, despite the fact that the LNP have fired their best shot, which is running a Queenslander as their leader, he is all over the place like an Easter egg hunt; he’s all over the park and you know who else is going to have to hunt? Public servants. Here in Brisbane, we've got 15,000 public servants who are waking up each day of this campaign, not knowing whether they're going to have a job on the other side of it, because Peter Dutton said he's going to cut 41,000 public service jobs. Those jobs, 75 per cent of which of the jobs he's talking about, they sit outside Canberra, they're here in Brisbane, they're here in the regions. They're not in Canberra. Those public servants don't know whether they have a future under Peter Dutton. That's what he's offering them, uncertainty, risk of their jobs and flip flopping on policies like international students, like Port of Darwin, like housing. It's not credible, and they see that; Queenslanders can smell it mile off.

CLENNELL: Is it a tactic of the Labor campaign to compare Peter Dutton to Donald Trump?

WELLS: I've been noting carefully Peter Dutton saying this week, posturing that if he'd gone to the White House, you know, he would have gotten a different outcome when Anthony Albanese and Australia secured, you know. No one got a better deal than us, and I honestly think having seen the posturing that Peter Dutton does but then failing to back it up with any kind of policy credibility. The only thing that Peter Dutton would have secured if he'd gone to the White House would have been an autograph and a selfie.

CLENNELL: But is it a campaign tactic of Labor to draw out these similarities between Peter Dutton and Donald Trump?

WELLS: Honestly Andrew, I've been door knocking in my electorate in 3 different suburbs this week, and it's not a tactic of mine. It's something people are saying to me on the doors. They see it, people spot the mimicking of policies. People see what's happening overseas. They see Peter Dutton’s frontbench trying to replicate that here. They're not for it. They're worried about it. They don't want that coming here.

CLENNELL: So the Opposition has its own policy announcement today, cutting the number of international students from 320,000 to 240,000, trying to get on top of the housing crisis. This is one measure. What's your reaction to that?

WELLS: This is a policy that Peter Dutton said he would vote against in the parliament only months ago. Now, today, he says he's got that policy back as his policy offering for the election campaign. Just like Port of Darwin when he was there, when they decided to flog it off and he's decided he wants to buy it back. International students, he said that he would block our legislated caps on international students. Now he's woken up today and said, he's got this great idea. He is all over the place like an Easter egg hunt, and it's not good enough. It doesn't give us credibility. It doesn't give us someone who's ready to govern, and I think people see that. They see someone who's not ready for the Lodge or Kirribilli, as he's made very clear, and let me tell you, I think Queenslanders have been pretty stunned. He may be the first ever Queenslander who's voluntarily signed up to support New South Wales at State of Origin, and to choose to live at Kirribilli.

CLENNELL: Now, you mentioned the Port of Darwin before, but Peter Dutton has come out with a clear policy on taking the lease off the owners. The PM then came out and said I've been trying to find a buyer that's slightly different. Was it a bit cheeky to essentially try to trump the Coalition announcement?

WELLS: We have been against the selling of the Port of Darwin for 10 years. We objected to Peter Dutton and the Cabinet’s decision at the time to sell it off; we still object to that decision. Now Anthony Albanese has come in and say what he would do to try and fix Peter Dutton's problem. It beggars belief that Peter Dutton is trying to take credit for a problem that he caused in the first place. Whatever specifics he wants to throw up, his credibility is in tatters on this. He was the one that sold it off in the first place. He should take responsibility for that.

CLENNELL: Are you concerned about this issue of who is more equipped to stand up to China hurting Labor?

WELLS: Absolutely not. I think that I was in the electorate of Moreton last night. There are lots of strong multicultural communities in the seat of Moreton. We're running Julie-ann Campbell there; she is an Australian with Chinese heritage. She speaks to those groups of people, some of them were there last night and they were saying that it is Federal Labor offering them the policies that give them confidence in the next term of federal politics. There's obviously a lot on the agenda. Like you say, there's a lot going on in the world at the moment. What people want is consistency. What people want is representation where they feel listened to, and they feel represented and that's what we're offering in places like Moreton in a second term Albanese Government.

CLENNELL: Anthony Albanese copped some flak last week after slipping off the stage and then suggesting he hadn't fallen over. How do you think that incident is playing out there, and do you think he fell over?

WELLS: You are the first person to bring it up with me. Genuinely.

CLENNELL: If Labor is re-elected, Anika Wells, would you like to continue serving as Aged Care Minister or move on to another portfolio?

WELLS: As we've talked about before, Andrew, I worked in aged care when I was at uni. My mum worked in aged care for 15 years. It has been such an honour to return to a sector that is so desperately neglected, over so long, and try and put it in, set it up for the future to put in place the reforms that are needed for the future. I'm really proud of how much we've accomplished together this term in aged care. There's plenty to go. There's all of our new reforms are kicking in 1 July, and we're furiously busy on those implementation processes. It would be an honour to continue working on those reforms and seeing those things through.

CLENNELL: Anika Wells, thanks so much for your time.

WELLS: Pleasure.

ENDS