This means that 95 per cent of the $26.7 million total, which mostly falls under the Solar Communities, Green Army and threatened species programs, directly benefits the battleground seats of this election. Environment Minister Greg Hunt. The Coalition defended the environment-focused cash splash, arguing it has been spread across a diversity of seats and calling the findings a disappointing "partisan political campaign". "Piecemeal support for small-scale solar projects won't create the structural shifts in the energy market that investors are calling for and that are necessary for Australia to cut pollution and transition to renewables," the ACF's climate change program manager Victoria McKenzie-McHarg said. "Policies for renewable energy should be about more than a local media hit. They should be about supporting investment and cutting pollution in line with what scientists say is necessary to protect the Great Barrier Reef and stop global warming worsening."

A spokesperson for Environment Minister Greg Hunt said the ACF "should be welcoming all efforts to boost renewable energy in Australia". "We have announced funding for solar panels and battery storage for community groups in seats held by both Coalition and Labor MPs and in both marginal and non-marginal seats," they told Fairfax Media. "It is disappointing that instead of welcoming the fact that we're providing community groups with solar, the ACF is running a partisan political campaign." Mr Hunt's office said the government's reduction, from 41,000 to 33,000 gigawatt hours, of the formerly "broken" Renewable Energy Target allowed certainty for investment and pointed to $3 billion in national renewable energy investment announced over the last year, a $1 billion clean energy cities fund, and an electricity interconnector in Tasmania that would engender $3 billion of industry investment.