Page 961 - Week 03 - Thursday, 23 March 2017
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The government is presenting the Planning, Building and Environment Legislation Amendment Bill 2017, which I will refer to as PABELAB. PABELAB is part of a regular program of omnibus amendment bills that make various minor amendments to legislation administered by the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate. This process allows various amendments to be consolidated into a single bill. This provides an effective means of keeping legislation up to date and responding quickly to changing circumstances.
This PABELAB contains two minor policy amendments and a number of technical and editorial amendments. The two minor policy amendments are to the Energy Efficiency (Cost of Living) Improvement Act 2012 in the Climate Change and Sustainability portfolio, and to the Nature Conservation Act 2014 in the Environment and Heritage portfolio. These amendments are non-controversial and are designed to improve the effectiveness of each piece of legislation.
Madam Speaker, I would like to briefly discuss the two minor policy amendments. The first is an amendment in clause 12 of the bill to the compliance information-sharing powers in section 28C of the Energy Efficiency (Cost of Living) Improvement Act 2012. This act establishes the energy efficiency improvement scheme, or EEIS, which requires electricity retailers to conduct energy saving activities. Some examples of eligible activities under the EEIS include installing low-energy lighting, such as LED downlights, installing insulation and thermally efficient glazing, and purchasing high efficiency electrical appliances. Examples of compliance are many, but the EEIS is delivering good outcomes for the environment and for ACT electricity consumers. It is reducing costs for households and businesses and is an important part of the government’s actions to improve energy efficiency, reduce emissions and address global warming.
In order to ensure the continued effectiveness of the EEIS it is vital that the compliance and administration powers in the act are working well. Coordination and sharing of information with schemes in other jurisdictions is a necessary part of this. Currently, the ACT gives the EEIS administrator the power to share compliance information with agencies in other jurisdictions, subject to a number of limitations. One such limitation is that the agency must use the information for the purpose of compliance with a relevant law.
As it is currently drafted, section 28C of the act allows the sharing of information for the purpose of a law that is adopted, applied or incorporated by an eligible activities determination or a code of practice. It has become apparent that the drafting of the provision does not achieve its original intent of allowing compliance information to be shared with administrators of all other similar schemes.
Clause 12 fixes this problem by amending the provision to instead refer to compliance with a law that makes provision for energy efficiency or greenhouse gas abatement. This is to ensure that the administrator can share compliance information in relation to relevant laws of another jurisdiction and is not restricted to sharing information in relation to laws that are adopted in the ACT.
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