Page 328 - Week 01 - Thursday, 17 February 2011
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What we do not want to see is what happened in New South Wales where the government bumbled along for ages with their scheme and then suddenly overnight said, “That’s it, we’re dropping the price by two-thirds,” and we saw the scheme come to a screeching halt. What we want is gradual, sustainable management of this system where the government winds the price down over time, just as the legislative model envisages, and avoids the boom-bust cycle that has so detrimentally impacted on the industry over many years. It is no way to build a strong and sustainable industry to say: “Here’s a wall. Bad luck when you get to it.”
One could argue that medium sized generators should not be capped either and that the same tariff reduction mechanism could be used there as well. However, I am more relaxed about a cap that the industry knows about in advance rather than one where we are halfway through. Under the micro scheme in the ACT seven megawatts have already been installed, and the next seven to eight megawatts are likely to be sucked up in around 18 or perhaps 24 months at the outside at the rate we are currently installing. I do not believe that is enough notice for a host of businesses that have made plans over a much longer time frame. The minister will say when he stands up, I am sure, that they have got warning, they know it is going to be two years away. But we have spoken to people who have taken out five-year leases on warehouses at Fyshwick in anticipation of having ongoing businesses. These are the sorts of scenarios that we are trying to avoid. We believe we can do it in a more measured way. We may come back to this discussion during the detail stage.
In summary, the Greens support this bill. We acknowledge it is a step forward. We welcome the opening up of the scheme to the larger, more efficient installations. We believe this will start to drive the next phase of the industry in the ACT. It is a good step forward for the ACT to build up a solid capacity. I believe we are insulating the city against future energy price rises, and in the long term people are going to be thanking the members in this chamber who supported a feed-in tariff scheme at this time for our foresight.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water, Minister for Energy and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (4.30), in reply: I would like to thank Mr Rattenbury and the Greens for their support of this bill.
The Labor government is proud to be introducing legislation that will, for the first time in Australia, establish a feed-in tariff for medium-scale renewable energy generation. To date around Australia, feed-in tariffs have focused on encouraging the deployment of solar renewable energy generation at the household level. For the first time today, we make the leap in creating a scheme that will provide for medium-scale generation and make it accessible for a feed-in tariff for deployment of renewable energy generation on large roof tops, factories, warehouses and large office buildings. It is an important reform and one that will help implement Labor’s commitment to making Canberra the solar capital of Australia.
I note the Liberal Party’s opposition to this bill and I note that over the years there have been a lot of contradictions coming from the Liberal Party in relation to feed-in
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