Page 5014 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 26 October 2011
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to recruit some additional electrical safety inspectors and they are contributing to the overall task.
MR SESELJA: Minister, how many safety incidents relating to the installation of solar panels under the feed-in tariff scheme is the government aware of, and will you table a list of all of those incidents by the close of business?
MR CORBELL: I am unclear what Mr Seselja means by “safety incidents”.
MS BRESNAN: A supplementary.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Ms Bresnan.
MS BRESNAN: Minister, what action has ACTPLA taken to manage the demand for increased customer services, including initial phone bookings, given the increased numbers of applicants in recent months?
MR CORBELL: First of all I should reiterate my previous answer, which was that the government has recruited additional electrical safety inspectors to improve processing times. Bookings for electrical safety inspections are normally done by the installer of the PV system. But what we have seen is an increase where the installers are relying on the customer to make that booking, or both the installer and the customer are seeking to make the booking.
So this is actually creating a large number of phone calls that have to be dealt with, because we have got a duplication. In fact, it needs to be the installer who makes the booking wherever possible, because the installer will know when the system is ready to be inspected, whereas the customer may not always know that the system is complete to the point that it warrants an inspection.
That is creating some challenges, but again, as I have indicated, staff are working long hours, hard hours. We are seeing considerable amounts of overtime being worked to try and respond to this issue. I would like to commend the staff in the electrical safety area of the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate for the very hard work they are doing. I am cognisant that they are working hard, but I am grateful that they continue to place their priority on maintaining electrical safety. If there is a choice between some delay and electrical safety, I would much rather be putting electrical safety first.
Emergency Services Agency—headquarters
MR SMYTH: My question is to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services. Minister, I am concerned that you do give an honest answer, given your record of being censured in this place.
Mr Hargreaves: On a point of order, Mr Speaker, that has got to be out there. You cannot talk about Chicken Little and then talk about that.
Members interjecting—
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