Page 2314 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 22 June 2011
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conducting air leakage testing on a large number of dwellings is, in the government’s view, currently prohibitive.
Work to continually improve and develop appropriate standards will be complemented by the work on building quality, started by my predecessor, Minister Barr, which will also address the initial construction and maintenance of the building. And it is vitally important that we make sure building quality is good at the beginning, when the building is being built, so that some of the issues that arise down the track around energy efficiency can be prevented.
In addition to this, the ACT government is a signatory to the national partnership agreement on energy efficiency. The national strategy on energy efficiency contains 37 measures, many of which relate to the performance of buildings and the practitioners involved in their design, construction and assessment. The government has committed to investigate these measures, which naturally includes appropriate analysis of their effectiveness and the impacts and potential benefits to consumers, industry, the environment and the community.
At present the strategy includes developing skills related to energy efficiency, strengthening capability in energy auditing and assessment, accelerating and expanding minimum energy performance standards and the labelling of appliances and equipment, the phasing out of a number of greenhouse intensive and inefficient products, the development of new energy standard settings, assessment and rating framework, significantly increasing the stringency of energy efficiency provisions for all classes of building under the building code of Australia and, finally, the introduction of mandatory disclosure programs in all jurisdictions.
I would like to particularly refer to measure 3.1.1, which includes many of the issues about energy assessments raised in this motion. When considering that this measure involves a fundamental review and restructure of the framework for energy standards and assessments, the time frames included in the strategy have proved to be ambitious. I would nevertheless draw to members’ attention the fact that this piece of work is ongoing and every jurisdiction remains committed to resolving the residual concerns and issues relating to measuring and enforcing energy efficiency standards.
It is also worth pointing out that many of the measures in the strategy have already been implemented here in the ACT before the document was even developed. Through all of these processes, ACT representatives continue to advocate for the highest standards possible whilst also considering the economic and social impacts of any new policy. But they also advocate for standards to consider the whole building stock and building services rather than only new building work. However, regardless of what direction concerning the implementation of new programs, legislation or standards other jurisdictions take, the ACT will continue to develop and maintain measures appropriate to our goals and to meet community expectations for effective and fitting responses to environmental and regulatory issues.
Indeed, the ACT is already seen as a leader in this field. Earlier this year I had a meeting with the Hon Mark Dreyfus, who is the parliamentary secretary on energy efficiency. His first comment to me was: “You guys are doing really well. You have
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