Page 1720 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 1 April 2009
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generation energy rating software for new buildings, assessor training, expansion of the mandatory disclosure provisions to other building types, the method for calculating energy ratings for mandatory disclosure schemes and education of stakeholders and industry; and
(e) ensure the Department of Justice and Community Services and the ACT Planning and Land Authority include in their annual reports information on the operation and enforcement of the energy efficiency rating scheme mandated under the Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act. It should report on the total number and proportion of:
(i) new house energy ratings audited by software assessment of rating;
(ii) new house energy ratings audited by physical inspection;
(iii) sale of premises ratings audited by software assessment of rating; and
(iv) sale of premises ratings audited by physical inspection.
The motion that I am moving today retains most of the substance of my original motion on energy efficiency rating audits. The amended motion basically clarifies some of the things which were not as well expressed as they could have been, and makes clearer the commitments which the government is happy to make—or that I hope it is happy to make. I am very hopeful that the motion will be supported by both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party. As I emphasised last week, given the importance of the energy efficiency rating scheme, it is very important that we have proper auditing of the scheme and clarity on the ratings.
Since I put forward this motion last week, there has been a lot of work on the issue behind the scenes. It is actually a very good example of what can be achieved in this place when there is a commitment to cooperation and a focus on good outcomes. I am very thankful to the minister’s office and Craig Simmons from ACTPLA for working through the issues which I raised last week and identifying the exact problems and areas where my motion lacked clarity.
Last Friday, we had a very helpful joint briefing from the relevant ACTPLA officers for both us and the Liberal Party, so I am really hopeful that both sides will be able to agree to this. It was very useful because it was a briefing about all of the issues. I think one of the major problems is that there are two different rating schemes and people, including myself at times, very often get confused about them.
I will briefly go through the points in the new motion. The “notes” part is probably not the major part that I need to talk about because I went through that in my speech last week. I would like to concentrate on the four areas where the Assembly agrees that the government should do certain things.
First, we have got “immediately strengthen the auditing of the approval and certification of new buildings to better audit energy efficiency ratings”. I am very pleased that this, I hope, is a common goal of the Assembly. My original motion did have some numeric targets in there. I am prepared to say at this stage that, while the
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