Page 2522 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 13 August 2014
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MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Capital Metro) (6.17): I am pleased to speak to funding in this budget that delivers the government’s program and agenda in relation to the protection of our natural environment, the maintenance and improvement of biodiversity within our city and a program that delivers our city a climate-friendly future, a program that delivers 90 per cent renewable energy for our city, a program that helps reduce the costs of energy use in our community, saving both greenhouse gases and the environment.
But I cannot let pass the comments from Ms Lawder in this debate when she indicated that the Liberal Party really are the party of the environment; they did all of these fantastic things. Yes, they did do good things, but I would welcome any indication of the Liberal Party’s positive program and agenda this century. I think that would be a helpful thing. It is all very well to assert things that happened over 20 years ago, but I am interested in what the Liberals stand for today.
What we know is that the Liberals today do not stand for a program that supports renewable energy in our city, do not stand for a program that supports transition to a low carbon future, do not support a program that invests in renewable energy in a way that drives a new economic opportunity for our city, and do not even support a program that saves households money on their electricity bills. They stand up here and assert how concerned they are about the cost of living, and they do not even support a legislative scheme that has demonstrated, through a rigorous cost-benefit analysis, a rigorous regulatory impact statement, that it saves households money on their electricity and gas bills. They do not even support that. So they have little credibility.
The most we heard from the shadow minister for the environment in her speech tonight was that she wanted some changes to the administrative orders; that is it. That is the Liberal Party’s program when it comes to the environment.
In contrast, the government is going to continue with its broad-ranging policy and program on providing for a more sustainable Canberra. In the coming financial year the government will continue to provide opportunities for ACT residents to reduce their environmental footprint. Programs such as ACTSmart and the energy efficiency improvement (cost of living) scheme—a scheme opposed by the Liberal Party—will continue to help Canberrans to reduce their resource consumption. This not only has an impact on the climate by reducing our emissions but it also improves overall the cost of living for Canberrans.
To date ACTSmart has delivered in excess of 325 megawatt hours in savings to businesses across the ACT. The program has achieved results in all areas of the community. Savings have been achieved through a reduction in waste to landfill, a large decrease in water consumption and a general increase in awareness across the territory of actions residents can take to reduce their consumption and their impact on the environment.
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