Page 2853 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 24 June 2009
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Mr Corbell: Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance as to whether this question pre-empts a matter that is on the notice paper, because Ms Le Couteur has referred specifically to her bill in asking that question, and I think that may pre-empt the debate on that bill.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Corbell, there is no point of order. I suspect that you are operating under former standing order 117(g). That was abolished under the recent reforms to the standing orders. On that basis, the question stands and I would invite you to answer it.
MR CORBELL: Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mrs Dunne: Do you want to dissent?
MR CORBELL: Not at all, and even for the benefit of—
Opposition members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Corbell has the floor.
MR CORBELL: Even for the benefit of Mrs Dunne, Mr Speaker, I will make sure that I address the chair at all times. Mr Speaker, the question Ms Le Couteur raises is a legitimate one. There is a range of issues at play when it comes to the relative efficiency of electric hot-water systems versus solar or gas-boosted or gas hot-water systems. I think the point that Mr Barr was seeking to make was that it did not make a lot of sense to ban an electric hot-water system if the person who had that system sought to run the system on renewable energy. I think that was the point that Mr Barr was seeking to make—that Ms Le Couteur’s bill proposes that even where someone uses renewable electricity to power their electric hot-water system, they would not be able to keep their electric hot-water system. I think that is a legitimate point for Mr Barr to make.
In relation to the government’s position on Ms Le Couteur’s bill, I cannot pre-empt the cabinet process on that matter, but we will be providing a detailed response on all the matters that Ms Le Couteur’s bill raises in due course.
MR SPEAKER: Just to clarify, Mr Corbell, I misspoke then. I meant standing order 117(f), not (g). Ms Le Couteur, a supplementary question?
MS LE COUTEUR: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Last December you signed up, I believe, as energy minister, to the ministerial council’s national hot water strategic framework, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by phasing out conventional electric water heaters. Do you still support these immediate home energy efficiency measures or do you agree with Mr Barr that they are objectionable because, and I quote, “it is the greenhouse gas intensity of coal-fired power that of concern” and “they will tie up home owners in green tape”?
MR CORBELL: Mr Speaker, I understand your ruling on the standing order and I understand the standing orders have changed but, again, this is a matter which in
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