Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

The whole point of this legislation, which was passed last year—and obviously the amendments that we are making now—is to assist industry with the inhibitors you were just talking about. That is why we are putting the legislation into place—to work with industry to help them identify the efficiencies and overcome the inhibitors.

In respect of potential targets, I think it is better for industry to be looking at what their energy savings might be than for the government to mandate that they ought to be saving 20 or 30 per cent. Industry knows its business better than government does, and for us to be imposing artificial limits and targets on industry is unrealistic. As I have said several times, industry is interested in saving energy because it saves costs. In the current global environment, there is an incentive for industry to be much more efficient. Efficiencies to be found in any area of business are important. Energy efficiency is one of them.

Some industries are significant users of energy in respect of their overall input costs. I know of a couple in my neck of the woods where energy is 30 to 35 per cent of their input costs. So there are significant incentives for them to save energy. As Senator Milne said, there is pressure on the cost of energy—that is a legitimate point. The points Senator Milne made in respect of some of the bulk energy deals that have been done and the pressure that is applied across the system are legitimate and reasonable and reinforce the point that energy is a significant cost to industry. Industries ought to be—and are, with the assistance of government through this legislation—working to identify those savings and implement them.