Page 3692 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 26 August 2009
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MR SPEAKER: Mr Coe, a supplementary question?
MR COE: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Minister, are libraries core business for the government, and why are you leaving the option open of charging for core government services?
Mr Corbell: He’s answered the question.
MR STANHOPE: I have answered that question. There are aspects of the Liberal Party’s position on crackers that I have not gone to yet.
Mr Coe: Relevance.
Mrs Dunne: Relevance, Mr Speaker.
MR STANHOPE: Oh, right.
Health—energy costs
MS BRESNAN: My question is to the Minister for Health and concerns the future costs of energy for health services and facilities in the ACT. The minister would be aware of the Australia Institute policy brief, “State of denial”, which made the point that state and territory governments, unlike heavy energy users in industry, are not being compensated for the impact of the proposed emissions trading scheme and that the scheme will have a significant impact on services such as education, police and especially health. Can the minister advise the Assembly what requests she has made to the federal government for compensation to cover the increase in health-related energy costs and what response the federal government has made to those requests?
MR CORBELL: Mr Speaker, this is a matter relating to the energy policy of the territory overall. As the responsible minister, I will take the question.
Of course, it would be useful if we had an emissions trading scheme. I note that the Greens in the federal parliament have voted against an emissions trading scheme and are not prepared to put in place an emissions trading scheme in Australia. It is a bit rich of the Greens to criticise the government for failing to or not seeking to get compensation in relation to an emissions trading scheme when the Greens have voted against an emissions trading scheme in the federal parliament.
MR SPEAKER: Ms Bresnan, a supplementary question?
MS BRESNAN: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Has the minister, whether it be the Minister for Health or Mr Corbell, ensured the department of health has modelled the increased energy costs associated with the proposed ETS and modelled plans to deal with that, and can that modelling be tabled in the Assembly by the end of the sitting week?
MR CORBELL: The government is taking account of issues around the cost of energy and the implications for government agencies moving forward. We are, of
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