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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2361 ..
MRS DUNNE
(continuing):that, and that we should be saving our potable water for that for which it was designed-for us to drink. I have not seen any innovation from this Minister for the Environment about where we are going to go and what we are going to do about that.
The same thing extends to energy efficiency. The minister for energy, of course, is not here; he does not want to know about the budget. He certainly does not want to know about energy efficiency. We have seen in this place on a number of occasions this government being dragged, kicking and screaming, to the table when they have been required to do things in relation to energy efficiency. It is always too difficult and it is always too hard. The only real energy efficiency initiative that they have brought in since being elected to government is the failed solar hot water rebate scheme.
I hate to say that I told you so, but I told you that it would not work. It is middle-class welfare and even the middle class cannot afford it. The Minister for the Environment has now tinkered with the system in the hope that it will get better in the future but, as things stand at the moment, people are not taking up the scheme. People are not taking up the scheme because it is still too expensive and nothing substantive has been done to sell the benefits of having free hot water supplied by the sun. People have to be educated and have to find a way over the thing.
In estimates, Ms Tucker raised a question about what this government is doing about financing schemes so that people can buy solar hot water systems and other things that will improve the energy ratings of their houses without paying out one big slug of money at one time. The answer is that this government is doing nothing.
MR SPEAKER
: Order! The member's time has expired.MRS DUNNE
: I wish to take my second 10 minutes.MR SPEAKER
: Proceed.MRS DUNNE
: While this government has been sitting on its hands doing nothing, this opposition has come forward with a policy of solarisation. It has come up with a means of financing solar and energy efficiency additions to homes so that, even though you might have to go out and spent $15,000, that debt will not be a great burden to you. It has been put together in such a way that even a landlord might find it appealing to improve the solar and energy capacity of a house that he is renting out for the benefit, not only of himself, but also of his tenants.As well as preaching to people about how good it is and how morally upright they would be if they did that, you have to appeal to their hip pocket nerve. The solarisation policy which has been put forward in this town by scientists and people working in the industry and adopted by the Liberal opposition is one of the ways to go to improve the solar and energy efficiency of houses in the ACT. But, so far, we have not had anything concrete from this government.
One of the other things that we need to do is take a really serious look at our house designs and come up with houses which are better suited for the extremes of climate in the ACT. At this stage, despite all the chest beating about HQSD, there is not enough being done to improve-
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