Page 5680 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 6 December 2011
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think these series of factors really led to a very unfortunate finish to the scheme. I also think that the decision by the Labor and Liberal parties in this place to cap the scheme also created, as I have said in this place before, an artificial barrier that created a most spectacular and unfortunate ending to that scheme.
But I think the success of the scheme demonstrates that the ACT community embrace the idea of solar and renewable energies and they are keen to be part of it. As I have touched on, the volume of private and personal investment that went into that scheme is a testament to that community desire to see a change in the way that energy is generated in and for this territory.
I do note—and it was interesting to see—in last week’s annual reports hearings the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate included the figures up to 30 June for the number of installations per suburb. There has been a bit of a sense that, if I might be colloquial for a moment, the toffs of Red Hill were the ones ripping off the poor burghers of Belconnen because they were ripping all of this money out of the feed-in tariff scheme. The figures really tell a very different story.
The table, which is on page 225 of the annual report, has a suburb-by-suburb breakdown. I have referred to some of these before but it is interesting to reflect that the latest figures show Red Hill has 44 households who have undertaken installation, Deakin 46, Yarralumla 64, Forrest 14, Barton seven and Kingston five. These are the sorts of suburbs that have had that perhaps slightly negative aspersion cast on them. If you go just across the border into Curtin, you get 129. Going deep into Tuggeranong, there are 117 in Gordon, 84 in Conder and 79 in Banks. If you go out to Belconnen, there are 73 in Macgregor and 84 in Giralang. The numbers do vary from suburb to suburb but I think this disproves the general assertion that somehow the wealthy people of Canberra are the only ones benefiting from this.
What the figures actually show is that across Canberra our community know that we need to do it differently and they are prepared to put their money where their mouths are on that one. And I think that is a great reflection on the ACT community. That suggests to me that Canberrans will welcome the passage of this legislation.
I would like to turn to the specifics of the bill. There are several key features of the bill, to my mind. The first is that it creates the framework to release 210 megawatts of large-scale renewable generation, a very substantial contribution to creating a clean, green economy in this city, and ensures that our power comes from renewable sources. Secondly, the bill establishes an architecture for the so-called reverse auction, a process that should deliver the best deal for ACT customers and taxpayers. Thirdly, the bill delivers the necessary protections for the territory whilst providing certainty and a stable investment environment to encourage industry to come to this region.
These features really highlight the central focus the Greens have for this legislation. We believe it must ensure the delivery of significant renewable energy generation at the best possible price. That is what this bill is about, and we believe that the way it has been drafted provides the opportunity to deliver that. There is a level of discretion in the rollout of that legislation for the minister to, I guess, administer that process. We think that is a necessary flexibility because, as we have observed, just in the last
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