Page 5674 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 6 December 2011
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MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (11.25): The Canberra Liberals will not be supporting this bill today. This bill does not support the economic development of the ACT; it does not support the families of the ACT; it does not support the environment or reduce emissions. What it does is give Simon Corbell a blank cheque to fund his headlong pursuit of a headline. At best, it is a clumsy way to expand a scheme that has already proven unmanageable and unaffordable, not just in Canberra but around the country. At worst, it is a very expensive way to do very little.
Under the current legislation before us this is what could happen: we could have renewable energy produced in Bega or Young or Yass. We do not know where, and Simon Corbell cannot tell us. That operator can charge us for power we do not use and do not need and, most damningly, at a price we do not know, and Simon Corbell cannot tell us. That power is fed into the grid to be used by polluters in New South Wales or in Queensland, exactly where we do not know, and Simon Corbell cannot tell us.
For all that, we get some certificates that Simon Corbell can use to claim to have reduced emissions without any change to behaviour in the ACT or anywhere else. We do not know how many, and Simon Corbell cannot tell us. In fact, with our 40 per cent emissions target, this renewable energy which is produced in New South Wales and fed into the grid can be used to reduce our emissions only to allow New South Wales to emit more than it otherwise would have due to the operation of the carbon tax and the ETS. Canberrans are left to foot the bill. How big a bill we do not know, and Simon Corbell cannot tell us.
There is the potential under this bill that not one dollar is spent here in the ACT, not one job is created and not one industry attracted. The Canberra Liberals do not believe that Canberra families should foot the bill so that New South Wales businesses can build their businesses and other states can keep polluting and polluting more.
Some in this chamber are fond of saying that there is no economy without the environment. It is just as valid to say that without a healthy economy we cannot save the environment. I say this because, off the back of what many now claim to be a dismally mismanaged smaller micro solar feed-in tariff that saw the demise of industry in the ACT, long installation delays and untold millions of taxpayers’ money wasted, the government is telling us today that it is ready to implement a large-scale feed-in tariff seven times larger than the one it has just bungled.
In fact, the mismanagement was so bad in the last program that Minister Corbell had to axe the program in the dead of night not once but twice. In fact, even today we do now know exactly how much the government had over-committed in its 30 megawatt cap, and it still cannot tell us the actual amount this incompetently managed program is costing Canberrans today.
It is telling to see the long list of failed Labor initiatives across this country. As recently as 24 November the New South Wales Auditor-General, Peter Achterstraat, heavily criticised the New South Wales Labor government’s feed-in tariff scheme, saying it will end up costing the state up to $1.4 billion. Additionally, the New South Wales scheme was also known as a cause for electricity price increases.
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