Page 3600 - Week 11 - Thursday, 16 November 2006
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MR STANHOPE: I thank Mr Gentleman for the question. Mr Speaker, it is certainly the case, as all members know, that in Australia it is the states and the territories that have taken the lead in addressing energy and climate change issues. To date the Australian government, as we know, has been very reluctant to participate in formulating a policy direction on climate change—until, of course, the last week or so. State and territory governments have recognised the importance of addressing climate change and, indeed, have been calling for the Kyoto protocol to be ratified for the last nine years. But in the absence of commonwealth leadership on the issue they have been together considering a range of effective policy responses to ensure a flexible way of achieving greenhouse gas abatement in the transition to what we hope is a carbon contained or constrained future.
It is within that vein of a lack of commonwealth leadership or participation that the states and the territories developed a discussion paper, A possible design for a national greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme, which was released in August of this year after a specific invitation to the Prime Minister to be associated with the report had been rejected by him. The discussion paper followed an exhaustive and comprehensive 18-month investigation and national consultation process and led to the development and subsequent release of that proposal. It is a proposal which continues to be consulted on, and a standing offer remains for the Prime Minister and the commonwealth to join the states and territories in further developing a national greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme for Australia with the possibility, of course, of international trading.
The ACT government, however, has not relied just on that. We have implemented a range of initiatives, including some Australia-first initiatives. The greenhouse gas abatement scheme, which in its own right is a form of emissions trading that operates in the ACT and New South Wales, commenced in January 2005. It requires all electricity retailers to procure over time an increasing component of electricity from accredited clean or green sources. The greenhouse gas abatement scheme is in fact, and is widely acknowledged as, the single most effective mechanism in Australia for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2005—in other words, just last year—the scheme reduced emissions by the equivalent of the emissions from 73,500 cars. That was the level of emissions that have essentially been reduced in the ACT in just one year—73,500 carloads of emissions have been reduced through the ACT and New South Wales combined greenhouse gas abatement scheme, and this is the single most effective move yet taken by any governments in Australia in relation to reduction of emissions.
The ACT government’s electricity contract, which was renewed in July 2005, requires that 23 per cent of energy supplied to the ACT government for its purposes be provided from renewable energy sources. This is an increase from 17 per cent. Of all governments in Australia—except, of course, Tasmania, which is the hydro state—the ACT now leads in relation to the use of renewable sources of energy for its own energy needs. For residential building in the ACT, a mandatory energy efficiency rating declaration is required at point of sale. Also there are investigations into a residential rating tool for sustainability and investigations into the use of the Green Building Council’s green star energy rating. As I indicated earlier, in September 2005
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