Most regional and rural residents will miss out on air conditioning rebates for energy efficient appliances because the Berejiklian Government botched the rollout of the scheme.

While the regions miss out, Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s own suburb has access to the scheme showing that there is one standard for the city and another standard for the regions. This comes as NSW swelters through another heatwave this week.

Despite being unable to provide rebates of less than $1000 to keep many regional residents cool this week, the Liberals and Nationals will spend $2 billion on Sydney Stadiums.

The postcode search tool on the Government website advertising the rebate shows that there are no approved installers in dozens of regional areas, including the entire Central Coast, Hunter, and Mid-North Coast, as well as regional centres like Broken Hill, Tamworth, Albury, and Griffith.

Residents are only allowed to claim the rebate for air conditioning units installed by Government approved providers.

While these regions miss out, Gladys Berejiklian’s own suburb has three approved installers.  

The scheme is described as being open for “a limited time”, but some residents may never have an approved installer in their area before the scheme is over.

It is reported that Menindee, Wilcannia and Ivanhoe will reach 47 degrees on both Wednesday and Thursday, while Albury is forecast to reach 45 degrees and Young 44 degrees – yet residents in these towns are currently unable to access the rebate.

The list of regions which miss out on rebates include:

• Central Coast
• Hunter
• Mid North Coast
• Regional centres:
  • Broken Hill
  • Bourke
  • Tamworth
  • Armidale
  • Wilcannia
  • Tweed Heads
  • Grafton
  • Griffith
  • Young
  • Albury
  • Bega
  • Merimbula
  • Eden

Great swathes of the state will miss out on rebates of up to $1000 despite the scheme being widely advertised and communities being promised they could apply for a rebate to help cope with the summer heat.

Quotes Attributable to Shadow Minister for the Environment and Deputy Labor Leader Penny Sharpe 

“This rebate con is a cruel hoax on the people of regional NSW and shows yet again the wrong priorities of the Berejiklian-Barilaro Government.” 

“ When there is a record heatwave sweeping the state and hundreds of communities in our regions are missing out the Premier needs to intervene to get her hapless Environment Minister to do her job and ensure that this program is delivered to all communities not just those in Sydney.”  

“ It is not right that the people of Sydney’s leafy north shore get airconditioning installed through this program while some of the hottest and most needy areas of NSW will miss out.”