Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think we really are at a critical point in this nation’s response to the climate change challenge. Therefore, we are also very much in a time of dynamic policy debate. We are looking at multiple solutions to make a difference. Feed-in tariffs are one such measure that have already been pursued by state and territory governments around the nation.

We all know that the challenge of climate change is one of profound environmental, economic and social consequences. We have many scientific and economic experts reminding us of the urgency of this matter, because our way of life is indeed at risk. In Western Australia, we risk our wonderful Ningaloo Reef, increasing loss of habitat and rainfall in the south-west, drying farmland, rising sea levels, changing and more extreme weather patterns and the deterioration of infrastructure. These are the kinds of impacts that will similarly be felt in the rest of the nation’s farmlands, in our rich tourism areas such as the Great Barrier Reef, and even in Australia’s Antarctic Territory and beyond. Our environment and lifestyle are substantially at risk. To put it simply, the consequences of climate change inaction are potentially devastating.

What I want to acknowledge today is that in these debates we are also presented with opportunities as we set about reducing Australia’s carbon pollution over the long term and with the least cost possible. We have a variety of emerging new industries to be supported through a variety of policies and measures. Feed-in tariffs are one such measure. So there is much more to be done.

The key to Labor’s approach to renewable energy is our overarching drive and commitment to addressing climate change. The key plank in our approach is the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, first and foremost, because worldwide recognition of the real cost of using fossil fuels is long overdue. For too long we have ignored the very real benefits attached to switching to clean and renewable energy and enhancing energy efficiency. The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme represents a profound economic and environmental reform and, I think, is a key policy in driving the reform we are looking for. This is because, for the first time, the market for renewable energy, including solar, will reflect the price of carbon-intensive fossil fuels. Incentives to pollute will be replaced with incentives to innovate, and renewable energy technologies will compete on a playing field that is fundamentally transformed.

Importantly, Labor has also committed to an expanded renewable energy target. Incidentally, this is something that Germany does not have. We have many different policy levers up our sleeves. This target delivers on the government’s commitment to ensure the proportion of Australia’s energy coming from renewable energy sources is 20 per cent by 2020. Indeed, that is the key federal leadership measure that this government is taking. It is more than four times the previous government’s target. The national renewable energy target is designed to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy in this country. So, like a feed-in tariff, the renewable energy target is designed to assist with the deployment of new technologies and investments in the renewable energy sector, enabling stable and continuing investment that can be banked on. Such a scheme is going to lower the cost of long-term abatement by driving investment and capacity in our electricity generating sector. Importantly, such schemes reduce red tape by bringing the existing and proposed state and territory schemes into a national one.

It is important to note that the energy target itself is a transitional measure and is going to be phased out between 2020 and 2030. We would hope at that point that the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme will be maturing. This scheme is designed to bring renewable and solar energy in from the margins so that it is not isolated but rather integrated into our energy mix. It is about tapping into the innovative and dynamic capacities of our renewable energy sector and the many talented energy efficient practitioners being developed by this nation. For Labor, it is also about enabling households to take practical action to reduce their energy use. We have released a consultation paper on renewable energy. This also follows a commitment of more than $1 billion to household and community energy efficient and renewable energy programs.

Labor already has plans to address climate change. Without these plans, there would be no plan for renewable energy. We have a plan for renewable energy and a plan for the future of Australia’s solar industry. As I said before, the key planks to the government’s measures are centred around the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme—in other words, a price for carbon.

The Greens, through the Renewable Energy Amendment (Feed-in-Tariff for Electricity) Bill 2008, are seeking to keep these issues on the agenda. They believe these kinds of objectives can be addressed through a national feed-in-tariff scheme. It seems somewhat contradictory that these issues are already being pursued through COAG, as it resolved to do in March 2008. Personally, I do not think it is good policy to take them out of COAG’s hands at this point in time. There are good reasons for this as all the progress made so far has been due to the efforts of the states. In fact, it was the Howard government that was missing in action on this issue. Now it is a case of state and federal governments working together. To pass this feed-in-tariff scheme is to impose a scheme on the states when they are already leading the way in this area. Currently, there is a feed-in tariff in the ACT, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria. It is notable that even Alice Springs has a piloted program.

I am also very pleased that at the recent WA election, when the Labor Party introduced a commitment to a gross feed-in-tariff scheme, the Liberal Party responded in kind. Now there is a clear commitment in my own state of WA to a gross feed-in-tariff scheme. The simple fact is that many states were way ahead of the Howard government in implementing these schemes, and it is not time to take the issue out of hands of the states. They are the ones who have been working through the issues and getting on with the job. I suppose it is notable that their schemes vary significantly in their design; the states recognise this. They are the ones that have put the issue on to the COAG agenda. The states confront the same issues as the Commonwealth in putting these issues together.

I now turn to the differences in some of these schemes. Some of the feed-in-tariff schemes are restricted to new installations while others are not. Some offer feed-in tariffs for all electricity generated while others offer it only for the electricity that is surplus to the user’s needs. Some have limits on the scheme, such as a target number of megawatts of electricity generation, while others do not. This does mean that there is currently no consistent national approach. All of these design choices raise significant policy questions. But I think COAG needs to sort through them. The state and territory schemes have various eligibility restrictions. Personally, I like to see schemes that do not have very strict eligibility restrictions because that is the best way forward to promoting growth in the sector.

I note that in Victoria the scheme is limited to installed units of up to two kilowatt hours generating capacity and the scheme as a whole is capped at 100 megawatts of generating capacity. I note that South Australia also limits the size of customers and systems eligible to participate and it has a range of eligibility criteria. The Queensland scheme is quite similar to South Australia’s and it also has a range of variable criteria for access. The ACT scheme is one I quite like. It has few eligibility limits. While large generators receive a less generous feed-in tariff than households, there is no size limit on individual generators, unlike in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia, and no upper limit on the number of participants or the number of megawatts that can be eligible for the tariff.

I suppose it is clear from these remarks that we need to at some point move on from such a wide variety of fragmented policies, because if we are going to innovate change across the country and drive investment in the renewable energy sector then people need to operate across borders and they really need a way of planning their businesses with some kind of consistency. But it is worth pointing out that there is growing and considerable investment in the states already and, because of that investment and the differences in the variety of schemes, the states need to be the ones that work out those differences. I appreciate that the private member’s bill before us seeks to address many of the issues that I have spoken about. However, I contend it is inappropriate to simply impose a national measure when states have undertaken to harmonise their own laws.

I am going to use this opportunity today to highlight some of the government’s other initiatives demonstrating the depth of our climate change policies. The most critical step in reducing our emissions over time is recognising the real costs of using fossil fuels. There are real benefits of switching to clean and renewable energy and enhancing energy efficiency. I am really pleased that incentives to pollute will be replaced with incentives to innovate, and renewable energy technologies will compete on a playing field that is fundamentally transformed.

The Rudd government has some significant household assistance measures. We are already putting in place programs to assist people in their homes and the community more broadly to become more energy efficient and to access renewable energy sources. The issue of energy efficiency is profoundly important because we know in the current climate that energy is becoming more expensive. As a good Labor government, we cannot let that happen without appropriate assistance to households. You can give that assistance out in a variety of ways. The best way, I think, is to help people with energy efficiency in their homes. Other ways are to give them direct subsidies.

The framework for household assistance measures was announced in the budget. We made a commitment of more than $1 billion. The first plank of these measures is the Low Emission Plan for Renters. That plan provides rebates for people living in rental accommodation to assist with the installation of energy-efficient insulation. One hundred and fifty million dollars has been set aside for this plan. It is a really good policy because one of the key problems that confront us is that people are often reluctant to make investments in rental properties because they know that it is the renter that is ultimately paying the energy costs. If they invest in their house, there is no incentive to offset the prices for the tenant, because they do not get that money back. So it is really important that we have got innovative policies to address these kinds of problems.

The government is also assisting householders make energy-efficient purchases by further developing energy rating labels and standards for household goods. The household assistance measures plan is about shifting away from energy-inefficient and expensive household products, with measures such as speeding up the phase-out of inefficient lighting and providing rebates for solar hot-water systems to replace inefficient systems. I think it is important that the government is also working with the states to phase out the most energy-inefficient systems over time.

A particular initiative that I like is the National Solar Schools Program, because it is not just about households; it is actually about engaging the whole community. The government is engaging in our stride toward energy efficiency and renewable energies. This year the National Solar Schools Program got underway, with more than 9,000 schools around Australia becoming ‘solar schools’. I have really enjoyed getting out to schools in Western Australia and talking to them about these issues. Almost half a billion dollars has been set aside for this program. Importantly with this program, more than $200 million of the funding is set aside for investing in solar power systems. The government is doing this by providing grants of up to $50,000 for minimum two-kilowatt solar PV systems.

What is really important here is that we are not only making energy savings but every primary and secondary student in Australia is being provided with a working example of solar power. I think this gives solar power a very high profile indeed. In a few short years we are going to see photovoltaic panels on school roofs right around the country. That is also contributing to transforming investment in the renewable energy industry, in particular PV.

Labor is committed to the Solar Homes and Communities Plan. Solar power is a really visible and integral part of our community through the government’s Solar Homes and Communities Plan. It was a key election commitment. As a result of the increasing demand for photovoltaic rebates from our community the government has increased funding for this plan in the current year by bringing forward funding from future years. As senators will be aware, to make sure that the rebate goes to those households who need them most a means test for eligibility was introduced. I know that was highly contested, but it has not dropped demand. It has been highly successful and the industry continues to grow. Households have accessed these rebates at record levels. This shows that the government is indeed heading in the right direction. The program has been so successful that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts has informed us that there will be more Commonwealth funding for solar power and more installations of solar power systems this year than in any other year in Australia’s history.

Today I would also like to address the focus on solar power that we have through the new Solar Cities program. I am really delighted that recently this program has been extended to include Perth. Perth Solar City is the seventh city to be part of the government’s Solar Cities program. The program is about encouraging sustainable energy solutions. Over 6,000 homes and businesses in the East Metropolitan Region of Perth are part of this program and they will receive advice and practical assistance to make homes more energy efficient and energy smart. These kinds of programs will ultimately change the fabric and culture of Australia in terms of how we perceive energy because technology investment will not make a difference unless we transform people’s behaviour. The biggest opportunities we have before us are in teaching people to be energy efficient. (Time expired)