The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
CASEY, ACT
MONDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2025
SUBJECTS: Launch of the Casey Neighbourhood Battery funded through the Australian Government’s Community Batteries for Household Solar Program
SUZANNE ORR: Thanks everyone for being here. By taking off that additional capacity within the generator from solar and storing it, we can use it at more hours of the day, not just when the sun is out. So, a really important part of our ever growing and diversifying electricity network is ensuring that we can really get the full benefits of renewables, and thank you to AGL and everyone for putting this together – this is helping us get to Net Zero. It’s exciting to see this lovely box sitting here. We would like to thank them for their support, for helping us do it. So, I’ll leave my remarks there. It is an Australian Government funded battery, so I would like to thank them for their contribution towards the grant helping us do it. I’ll hand over to my colleague Andrew Leigh, the Member for Fenner to say a few words. And if Kalara wants to say anything about the artwork I’ll just put her on the spot.
ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks very much Suzanne. And I too acknowledge the Ngunnawal people on the lands we’re gathered today. At the 2022 election, Labor announced that we'd be putting in place three community batteries in Dickson, Fadden and in Casey. We did that because we understand that batteries are an important part of the renewables transition. Just as we need dams because it doesn't always rain, we need batteries because the sun isn’t always shining and the wind isn’t always blowing. You can see around you a whole lot of houses with solar panels on their roofs, and as we get to the middle of the day, we're going to get to a point at which there is sufficient capacity from renewables that we won't need anything else.
As we continue to build out the solar assets, that's going to become an even bigger factor of the grid. So community batteries are an important part of providing grid stability and allowing the renewables rollout. Community batteries are good for the environment and good for the economy as they help to drive down power prices.
The Australian Government is really pleased to be supporting this important battery and delighted that artist Kalara Gilbert has made it such a beautiful part of the Casey local infrastructure - something that local residents will be proud to pass by knowing that it's not just a part of the energy infrastructure, but also a beautiful Casey asset. I will hand over to Kalara to say a few words.
KALARA GILBERT: I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of these beautiful, unceded lands that we are on. I just want to say thank you for having me being part of this. What an honour and thank you so much.
SUZANNE ORR: I think with that, we can say it's officially open. I'm not sure if someone's turned the switch and it's already buzzing away but I think please come admire the lovely artwork, enjoy the nice sun and admire our lovely community battery which I think most people will walk past and go ‘I wonder what that is’, but we know it's all playing such an important part in our renewable future.
ENDS