Page 3603 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 21 November 2007
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release of this strategy, the ACT is leading the way in local government by setting emission targets and implementing a strategy that will meet these targets. We will be the first local government in Australia to achieve four of the five milestones in that program.
That was a groundbreaking policy, which even you, Mr Stanhope, and your government did embrace when you came to office. Sadly, it was later dumped and the reason I think you gave at the time was “this is actually going to cost too much”. It took then fully six years for the current government to develop a climate change strategy of its own and, unfortunately, in those six years the government came up with a strategy that actually put us fully 17 years—that is right, 17 years; probably more than half a generation—behind where we would be had the previous strategy been kept in place. And it was kept in place for several years by this government; it was only fairly recently that it was totally ditched and the government came up with this new strategy which, I must say, was disappointing—a couple of good aspects but fundamentally very disappointing.
Funnily enough, too, the Stanhope government’s strategy will cost pretty much the same as the Liberals’ strategy would have cost, but it puts us 17 years behind where we could have been. That is typical, unfortunately, of this government. It rarely embraces anyone else’s ideas. It seems to have trouble doing that. It has either got to be its own or none at all, no matter the cost. This was most unfortunate in relation to this because 17 years is a long time—it is four Assembly terms; as I said earlier, more than half a generation.
In relation further to that, Mr Stanhope indicated there was absolutely nothing specific in the budget. But I refer to the 2001-02 budget just as a case in point. Apart from garden waste recycling services for $310,000, there is implementation of the ACT’s greenhouse strategy, $180,000; implementing a range of strategies to reduce greenhouse emissions within the ACT, including assisting small to medium sized businesses to identify ways of reducing energy consumption and corresponding greenhouse emissions; and an energy efficient lighting retrofit project to be carried out in Macarthur House to demonstrate the energy-saving potential of innovative technology. And if you go—
Mr Stanhope: That’s it. Repeat that, Bill; repeat it.
MR STEFANIAK: No, no, that is just one thing. If you go back to the 2000-01—
Mr Stanhope: Repeat that, Bill—that $200,000 commitment to greenhouse gas reductions.
MR STEFANIAK: I am giving you that as an example, Jon, because you said there were no targets, and that is absolute nonsense. The previous government set ambitious targets of stabilising greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels by 2008 and reducing them by a further 20 per cent by 2010.
Mr Stanhope: That is priceless, Bill. Read out that budget bit again, the full $200,000.
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