Page 5989 - Week 14 - Thursday, 8 December 2011
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being proposed by the government following discussions with my colleague Mr Rattenbury. The amendments address a number of issues where the Greens have sought clarification of the operation of the legislation and I am pleased to provide that clarification in these amendments.
Firstly, in relation to the definition of the Australian capital region, the objects clause of the act now refers to the promotion of the establishment of large-scale renewable energy generation in the Australian capital region, rather than in and around the ACT. The effect of this change is to remove any doubt regarding where generation supported by legislation can be situated. Going just to clause 10, make the location of generators in the Australian capital region now a constraint to a feed-in tariff capacity release; and clause 11(1), make the location of generators in the Australian capital region now a limitation also on the minister’s power to grant a feed-in tariff entitlement.
The Australian capital region was created in the early in 1990s by the elected leaders of the 17 New South Wales local government areas and the ACT to jointly benefit from a regional approach to planning and development. Canberra is, of course, a hub for employment, education and services within the region and the economic interests of the ACT and its region are inexorably linked. The Australian capital region contains some of Australia’s best renewable energy resources, including wind resources near Cooma to the south or Crookwell to the north, providing the government with the opportunity to pursue economic options for renewable energy development potentially. The definitions in the bill have been updated to list the shire councils that form the Australian capital region.
As I have previously advised the Assembly, the first capacity release of 40 megawatts of solar energy capacity will be constrained to developments in the ACT itself, and there is no change to this proposal. Further, the amendments provide that there will be no grant of feed-in tariff entitlement during the disallowance period. The government has sought to clarify that grants of entitlement under the legislation cannot be made during the disallowance period of the instrument that signals a new capacity release. This avoids the situation where a grant may be made to a generator which is then invalidated by the Assembly, thereby exposing the territory to subsequent potential legal risk.
This has been addressed through amendments to clause 11 to limit the minister’s power to grant a feed-in tariff entitlement to a large-scale renewable energy generator only once the disallowance time frame associated with the feed-in tariff capacity release has expired. These are standard clauses used by the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office to address this type of issue.
I would also like to deal with the issue of review of the legislation. Clause 22(5) has been amended to remove the words “a report of”. The effect of this amendment is to remove any doubt that the full written review of a feed-in tariff capacity release conducted within six months of the granting of entitlements under a release is concluded will be tabled in the Assembly rather than a summary of that review. This obligation will then be of direct reference to the review itself and is consistent in light of the detail outlined in subclause (4).
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