Page 297 - Week 01 - Thursday, 11 December 2008
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elsewhere in the world have all chosen a “cap and trade” approach instead, which is based around physical measurable emissions instead of abstract notions of reductions.
We recently heard about the collapse of the certificate market prices. Although the government denies that this is a failure of the scheme, it shows that despite the large number of certificates being produced there is still a consistent rise in emissions. Too many companies produce too many certificates too fast. This oversupply occurred because companies gave away thousands and thousands of free light bulbs, which are not necessarily used, and thousands of shower heads which, by regulations, could not be installed by the company providing them, unless by a plumber. We have no idea what the amount of duplication of certificates is—for example, households getting multiple kits from different companies.
For these reasons we need a stronger greenhouse gas reduction strategy and revising the targets is the first step towards this. This will change. We have heard many options for solutions to the issue that are available to us. We are the sunniest capital city and have the best solar technology being created only some hundreds of metres down the road from this place. We live in a city that was designed for a light rail system and offers great potential for an efficient and effective public transport system. The Greens intend to do all we can to ensure that these options are taken up to the greatest extent possible. We are a wealthy community and we are also a socially progressive community. We are aware of those in our community who are vulnerable and need assistance.
Climate change presents even greater challenges for these people. Not only will they experience the impacts more than most but also they are the least able to respond to these impacts. These terms of reference will allow the committee to consider and develop solutions and initiatives to address these problems. Climate change not only presents a great many challenges; it also presents a great number of opportunities for significant changes to the way we do things. We understand that we are only a small jurisdiction. However, it is only through actions by each and every one of these small jurisdictions that we will achieve global outcomes that count. We have seen in other places around the world and even in Australia strident steps taken towards these changes. On the Gold Coast we have a local council which is a transition town making a move away from reliance on fossil fuels across to renewable energy. We have also heard before about Woking in the UK which has a strong strategy to do the same. Thus it is possible, and this inquiry is a chance for the ACT to explore taking similar steps. The Greens are most pleased to be able to support this motion.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (11.29): I will make just a few comments on the motion. While Mr Seselja has highlighted the Liberal Party’s support for this motion, I think that it is worth commenting on and perhaps amplifying some of the comments made by Ms Hunter. It is quite ironic that in the three short months since the last time the Assembly sat that there has been a transformation in the Stanhope government in relation to climate change. In the previous Assembly, when we eventually got our climate change strategy, Weathering the Change, we had the approach, “You know, we’ve written it, we’ve got the strategy and all we have to do is set and forget and everything will be fine and we can hark back to one of our 43 initiatives in our climate change strategy.” As I have said on a number of occasions, the most inventive thing about the Stanhope government’s climate change strategy is its name. “Weathering
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