Page 3436 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 14 November 2006
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Greenchoice product that is accredited under the green power scheme. I am advised that the ACT is a founding member of the green power scheme and has recently entered into a new agreement with other jurisdictions to further promote the branding in the market.
The Stanhope government also has in place its greenhouse gas abatement scheme that obliges retailers of electricity to increase the component of their product that they draw from cleaner and greener sources each year. Before the next election, when the opposition promises to introduce this policy, the current government scheme will have achieved sustained reductions in electricity-related greenhouse gas emissions of 8.6 per cent per person. In the first year of its operation, 2005, it achieved a reduction of 316,360 tonnes of CO2. This emission is the equivalent of taking 73,570 cars off ACT roads for a year.
I am further advised that the Canberra community has responded to this initiative far more strongly than any other community in the country. Five per cent of consumers have signed up, when the national average uptake is only 1.5 per cent. Congratulations to the people of Canberra. This speaks well of Canberrans and their commitment to contributing to the abatement of emissions from burning fossil fuels.
All of this is in addition to the Stanhope government’s choice to adopt a target of 23 per cent of the government’s own electricity needs from renewable sources. I am happy to report that we are almost there on that one, too. From memory, the last figure I saw was that we were at 19 per cent at 30 June 2006. That figure is increasing all the time. I am proud to say that, under the Stanhope government’s leadership, the ACT is the second highest user of green power in Australia, second only to Tasmania, which has enormous hydro power capacity, and we are unlikely to ever overtake it.
While we are talking about election commitments and targets, can I point out that, at the last election, the Stanhope government promised to ensure that the ACT government fleet would have 10 per cent fuel efficient or low-emission vehicles in the fleet by 2008. I am happy to announce that we have reached that target two years ahead of time. The Stanhope government is getting on with the business of achieving for the Canberra community while the opposition is thrashing around, making promises that are too little, too late.
Since we made the target so far ahead of time, the cabinet was united in deciding to convert the whole government fleet of cars to four-cylinder vehicles unless there is an operational reason why not. Compare this to the Prime Minister, another recent discoverer of climate change; a new dawn has dawned. His choice of car is a gas guzzler, bearing the number plate C1 in a fleet of similar vehicles.
Mr Mulcahy: It is a specially constructed car.
MR HARGREAVES: The commonwealth government, a good friend of the Liberal backbencher across the chamber, would do well to take a leaf out of the Stanhope government’s approach to government vehicles.
MR GENTLEMAN: Minister, is there anything else that consumers can do in partnership with government to reduce emissions?
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