Page 3731 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 26 August 2009
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amendment. We tossed around what was the best way to do this, with our stated goal of not limiting any future technologies that are low energy and low emission. What we have allowed, what we have clarified, is that the minister will have the opportunity to declare that certain types of technology, whether they be electric or otherwise, provided they meet the relevant standards, can be used.
We do not want to see a situation where we hitch our wagon to particular technologies. There are emerging technologies at the moment in terms of energy. We will see that expand at a great rate of knots over the coming years. What this does, we believe, is provide flexibility to the government to respond to this, to the minister to respond to this, to ensure that we do not get unintended consequences where very low-energy electric is excluded simply because it is electric.
We believe this provides for the widest range of possibilities, gives the relevant flexibility that is needed, whilst meeting the policy goals, which is to ensure that in new dwellings we do not see energy-intensive hot-water systems being put in place. So we believe it is a sensible amendment. It is only a slight amendment. It gives some guidance to the minister, and I am sure that will be useful in statutory interpretation if the minister wants to declare under this section. I commend this amendment to the Assembly.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Planning and Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation) (4.39): This is a sensible amendment and does at least give some flexibility to mandate on performance rather than just, as Mr Seselja said, seeking to limit it to specific technologies at this point in time. So it is a sensible amendment and one that the government will support.
MS LE COUTEUR (Molonglo) (4.40): We will support the Liberal amendment. It is very minor and simply is an example of the types of hot-water systems a minister can say are compliant by regulation. Its example is of an electric system.
What this bill is aiming to do is phase out inefficient high-energy electric systems and we have added safety. The legislation already has in it a system whereby the minister can deem that various systems are compliant. It is simply that we did not put an example there of electric. What we have said is that any system which is deemed compliant will have to be at least as efficient as a heat pump, a solar hot-water system or a high-efficiency gas system.
To our knowledge, there are no current electric systems which meet this standard; so I do not think this example is going to have any significant effect. However, if it did, that would be fine. I would point out that, as there were already performance standards in there, the example was not needed if such a system turned up. But given this, we are happy to support the amendment.
Amendment agreed to.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (4.41), by leave: I move amendments 2 to 4 and 7 to 13 circulated in my name together [see schedule 1 at
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