Page 293 - Week 01 - Thursday, 11 December 2008
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I believe that there are a number of ways that we can reduce our emissions. We have set out a plan in terms of house warming, which is about making households more energy efficient. That is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways of reducing emissions, and it meets a number of important tests. Starting with low-income households, in the case of our policy, it saves households money on their energy bills and it makes homes far more comfortable to live in. Anyone who has lived in a poorly insulated Canberra home with a poor solar aspect, as I have, knows what an uncomfortable place it can be both in winter and in summer. We do have a fairly harsh climate here.
I think the last home I lived in had an energy rating in the minuses, technically. You can actually do that, as I found out when we were selling. They give you a zero, but it is actually a minus when they add up all the bits. It was west facing, it had little or no insulation, it got every aspect wrong; whereas the house we have now has a beautiful solar aspect and double-glazed windows, which makes such a difference and makes for comfortable living in that home.
I think that that is one of the key areas. We know that there are two main areas for emissions—household energy use and transport. With household energy use, insulation and a better solar aspect are the keys, as well as things like double glazing and proper building standards, to ensure that we get our solar aspect right. We have talked about solar aspect for a long time. In new subdivisions, we have not seen the real response to that that we should have seen. There is the ability to give the vast majority of homes in new subdivisions the opportunity to have a good solar aspect. I think that is most important. When it comes to a household, you can do all sorts of things, but if you get the solar aspect right, that puts you way out in front.
We have a policy of rolling out insulation to low-income families and public housing, and I think that is a really important place to start. That household energy use is going to be really important. The other part of the equation for household energy use is where we source our energy, and solar is going to be a big part of that. We have talked about the renewable energy park, leveraging what the private sector wants to do. The private sector wants to invest in these emerging technologies; we just need to assist.
The ACT government needs to find ways of assisting in sensible ways. It will mean an initial outlay, particularly in some capital, but I think that our proposal for a renewable energy park is an excellent one. It builds on some of the natural advantages we have here in the ACT. We have the CSIRO here, we have the ANU here and we have a highly educated population. We do not have lots of dirty industries compared to other jurisdictions. So we are well placed to respond.
We need to look at the other aspect, which is transport. I was pleased with the choice of words by Mr Rattenbury in his inaugural speech today when he spoke about this. He said, “We need to give Canberrans better options.” It is not about saying to people who live in Richardson, in Banks or in Ngunnawal, “Well, we’re just going to force you out of your car and you can use a bus system that doesn’t meet your needs.” What we need to do, first and foremost, is to give people those options. We need to give people the option of an efficient and effective public transport system. People will
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