Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As Senator Parry says—and he made some remarkable contributions on this committee, and it is possibly my fault that he does not receive the credit that he should in the minority report—it is quite remarkable that the government is now giving away its $8,000 rebates to get smaller systems installed. We have Conergy saying:

The reduction in PV panels distributed around the country means the emission reductions occur at a greatly reduced rate. Isn’t the idea to have as many solar panels on rooves in order to reduce our emissions? Emissions are not means tested so why should the rebate be means tested?

That is a very valid question. Emissions are not means tested for households that may earn more than $100,000, so why should this rebate be means tested?

The industry could see, and feared, what would occur as a result of the means testing. They could see not only that you were shutting a large portion of the market out but also this impact of smaller systems being installed. Mr Ric Brazzale, from Green Energy Trading, told the committee:

We have a major concern that what will happen now is it will drive, if you like, the lowest common denominator, a roll-out of smaller, one kilowatt systems and it is not going to leverage customer demand.

That is exactly what has happened. The average size system under the rebate up until the means testing was introduced was a 1.57 kilowatt system. The average size system installed since the means testing was introduced is 1.24 kilowatts. That is a more than 20 per cent reduction in system size, on the government’s own figures.

The government want to claim that the means testing is a success and claim against all evidence that it has inspired more involvement. Not only has it driven many people out of the industry, but their own figures demonstrate that for each $8,000 that they spend today they are getting 20 per cent less renewable energy generated than they were previously. How on earth can the government claim that this is a successful policy?

They talk about certainty for the industry as well. The industry certainly needs some certainty. It had this policy of means testing dropped on it out of the blue in the budget, as Senator Macdonald was saying previously. Now the industry is concerned about the surge in bulk purchase schemes, and particularly with the Queensland government having effectively run a giveaway of one-kilowatt schemes. More than 1,000 households in Queensland are propping up the government’s numbers since the budget. They have had 1,000 kilowatt PV systems installed for less than $200.

We see that the budget amount for these $8,000 rebates is likely to be exhausted by the end of September. So what is the government going to do now? Maybe it will reduce the means test again. Maybe instead of a $100,000 means test it will bring it down to $10,000. That might prolong the life of the program further. Maybe the government could revisit the commitment that former Prime Minister John Howard made in May of last year when he said that if demand outstrips the budgeted resources for this program the government will commit extra funds to it.