Page 2340 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 5 June 2013
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
I think this plays out when we look at paragraph (1)(b), which talks about utility charges. We note that electricity costs in the ACT are the lowest in the country. That has been the case for some time. We have certainly debated that matter in the chamber before. We know that simply having an electricity account right here in the territory or having one across the border in Queanbeyan can result in a difference of literally hundreds of dollars—
Mr Barr: $1,000 a year.
MR RATTENBURY: Up to $1,000 a year? I have not looked at the most recent figures. I will take Mr Barr’s advice on that one. But whatever it is, it is a substantial difference. Again, that points to where we need to have nuance in this sort of discussion—because electricity costs have gone up in the ACT and if we roll out the figures they have gone up each year in recent years.
I think it then comes to what the solution is to that. That is why I took up the case a couple of years ago and started talking about the need to increase the energy concession rebate. It is the people at the bottom end of the spectrum who are struggling and need assistance. I am pleased to see that in this year’s budget there is a 10 per cent increase in the energy concession rebate. So the government, through this budget, is actually assisting those people who need the most assistance and notice these increases.
That is also why I talk about energy efficiency so often. The energy efficiency scheme that was legislated last year and is now starting to roll out is really important when it comes to a debate in which we are not just bringing in a political motion but actually talking about nuance and the issues that really make a difference. Electricity prices will continue to go up for a whole range of reasons and we have debated them extensively in this place before.
One can pull out the figures and certainly go back across the last decade. People stand in here and say, “It’s the carbon tax. It’s outrageous. It’s these Green measures.” There is a whole series of figures that show that that is not, in fact, the case. The primary driver of electricity price increases in the last decade in any jurisdiction you care to look at has been network costs, the need to upgrade the infrastructure. That is an unavoidable cost. We have to maintain good infrastructure, safe infrastructure, and infrastructure that minimises transmission losses. So we need to have as efficient a grid as possible. Those costs, one can make a fairly decent argument, are unavoidable. There is a debate about whether they have been gold plated or not but, putting that to one side, those are costs that are built in. The only way to avoid those costs is to use less electricity. That is why so often I come in here—and I am often mocked for it—and talk about energy efficiency being the best way to avoid those electricity price increases.
I note paragraph (f) in a similar vein where Mr Hanson talks about the government embarking on a disproportionately high carbon reduction and renewable energy target. Clearly, there is a value judgement in that statement. I am still amused—as Mr Seselja gets ready to leave the chamber this week—that we never debated his legislation that
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video