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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 4 Hansard (11 April) . . Page.. 978 ..

MRS DUNNE (continuing):

council, they highlighted to me the need for targets. The conservation council would like to see a target of 80 per cent of the market being solar in the next 15 years. We need to explore its potential and possibilities.

Energy innovation is by no means confined to the advanced and industrial world. I am heartened by a report that Asia Power International, a small Manila-based company, is working with the Philippines government to develop a prototype power plant using tidal currents off the southern island of Mindanao. The Philippines government is also investigating ways of using differentials in ocean temperature for power generation. Wind power is also being harnessed in the Philippines and solar energy is the key to the ongoing rural electrification program in that country.

The projects have been limited so far, but have had an important effect in drastically reducing fuel imports, which has in turn stabilised domestic power prices, and the flow-on effects from that are many. Let us not be left behind. Indeed, let us become, not just followers, but pioneers.

I am generally wary of setting targets, but one thing I dearly hope we can achieve in the process is an examination of the feasibility of setting realistic targets for Canberra to become the first major city in the world to be dependent entirely on energy self-sustainability.

We rely on energy for all areas of our lives. A secure supply of energy is vital to our economic and social development. We need to have a vision. We need to have long-term goals. Most of all, we need to have the information at hand to make these long-term commitments and we need the political will to implement them. That is why I am proposing, in consultation with members of my committee, that this Assembly look at this far-reaching reference.

In commending this motion to the Assembly, I ask members to join me in helping to usher in the future and make it happen. History will judge us harshly if we do not make this effort. Let us not falter in our commitment to a cleaner, sustainable future, a city that the world will look to as an example of what is possible.

MR SPEAKER: The question now is: that the resumption of the debate be made an order of the day for the next sitting.

Amendment (by Ms Dundas ) agreed to:

Motion, as amended, agreed to; debate adjourned to a later hour.

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