Page 5252 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 18 November 2009
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expansion by me as the responsible minister, is a policy that is driving the uptake of solar energy in our city. I was delighted less than a week ago to announce the 1,000th solar panel installation for our city, in Lyons, as a result of the feed-in tariff. Of course, there are a whole range of other measures.
Mr Seselja criticised the government for not walking the talk. I do not know where he has been, but it is worth highlighting that we are now in a position where we purchase 30 per cent of all of our power needs for ACT operations from GreenPower. We are investing money to do that, and we will continue that, subject to the normal budget processes, to increase our uptake of renewable energy for ACT government operations.
We will continue to argue that there need to be improvements in the operation of a CPRS and we have done that in relation to compensation to states, territories, community organisations and so on. We are doing that. States and territories have been successful, particularly in the context of green power. We now have the concession from the federal government that the purchase of green power will add to the overall national target in terms of the CPRS. So there is an opportunity for local action to have a meaningful impact on national policy. The purchase, the uptake and the generation of renewable energy are going to be a key element of that and we need to capitalise on that opportunity.
Those are just some of the things that are happening in this space. There is more work to be done but I do not for a moment shy away from the importance of setting a long-term target. As Mr Rattenbury has said, it shapes and should inform all of our thinking around how we view the challenge in terms of abatement, but also we need to have those targets in the short term and that is why we have taken what I think is a decision not without some risk for the government, in agreeing that peaking should occur by 2013. But we are prepared to do it because the issue is important—indeed it is vitally important—and we must demonstrate leadership in that regard.
I welcome the motion from Ms Porter and I thank her for bringing it to the Assembly. The government will not be supporting the amendment by Mr Seselja.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (6.04): I am pleased to support Mr Seselja’s amendment here today and also to congratulate Ms Porter on bringing forward what is an important issue. It is without doubt that climate change is an important, significant issue and a considerable challenge for all legislators, and not just legislators but for people in all walks of life no matter where they live across the world. But it is important that we put in context the work that has been done and the work that needs to be done in the future.
We have had Mr Corbell’s revisionist history. He does not really want to dwell on the past, which I suppose is understandable considering the poor history of the Stanhope government and of many of his predecessors that have occupied the environment portfolios in the eight or so years of the Stanhope government, because what we have seen is the best part of a decade of failure and a steadfast resolution to avoid a systematic and thorough approach to addressing this issue, sector by sector, across the community.
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