Radio Interview- ABC North and West SA with Tom Mann

RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC North and West SA
WEDNESDAY, 6 August 2026

SUBJECTS: Solar and renewables, aged care and early childhood care and education.

TOM MANN, HOST: Senator for South Australia Karen Grogan, is with me this morning. Now, solar panels are set to be discussed today when Energy Minister Chris Bowen, I understand, speaks to the National Press Club, announcing discounts for schools, supermarkets, factories and farm buildings and the like. You know, South Australia's government, of course, as I'm sure you well know, has an aim to reach 100% net renewables by next year. What have you made of the uptake of renewables in the state and why is solar panels such an important part of the national picture?

KAREN GROGAN, SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Look, we've seen a huge uptake. South Australia was obviously one of the leading states by a country mile in terms of renewables. What it does, particularly when you're talking farming, schools, etc., having those solar panels just cuts off your electricity bill significantly. And so the uptake makes perfect sense. And so the more we can do as a federal government, but also the state government, the more we can do to make that affordable, the better. Because obviously it's great to say, oh, let's all put solar panels on our houses and it'll be fine and on our businesses.

But of course, the outlay is significant. So the more we can do to reduce that and provide the environment for people to be able to do it, the better its going to be for people’s running costs.

And in addition to that, the battery rebate that was provided by the federal government was just off the charts in the number of people who actually took up that offer. And it does, I know I put a solar and battery on my house some years ago, and it took three years to pay back what it costs to do it. But the relief off your bill is significant. So like I say, the more we can do to reduce the cost and enable more people to avail of solar and battery the better and this particular announcement, I think is going to make a really big difference to farmers, really big difference to some of those businesses that are eligible to use the scheme.

TOM MANN, HOST: And I wanted to ask, finally, of course, you're out in the region, so we touched upon these events that you'll be attending, but are there particular conversations you're hoping to have while on this winter break, while travelling the state before heading back to Parliament?

KAREN GROGAN, SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Yeah, so there's a couple of key things that are really at a crucial point. I think our availability of early childhood education, care and education, so in childcare, and aged services. So I spent yesterday with a range of aged care services looking at their development plans and how we enable them to provide more in-home care, how we can enable them to build more residential facilities and more lifestyle villages for older people to move into.

Because we know we have this huge burdening ageing population and we need to be able to support them. That was a lot of what I got up to yesterday. And the day before I was with the Kimba Council, talking about what we've been working with them for a number of years and the Northern Eyre Peninsula Health Alliance on how we look at alternative models of providing access to health care across the region. Because it is different. You have a lot of smaller towns and everybody needs access to health care.

So how do we build those models that enable people to have the care they need, at a, you know, close enough to home. And those are the kind of things that we're really looking at the moment because they're long-term investments to enable us to build out for what we need into the future.

TOM MANN, HOST: Senator, I very much appreciate your time this morning. Thank you so much.

KAREN GROGAN, SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Great to speak with you, Tom. Thank you.