Page 4612 - Week 12 - Thursday, 15 October 2009
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adopted a target of zero net emissions and we are going to start, in the most important document this government delivers each year, reflecting that, in terms of the way we spend money, where we are with money and how we prioritise money.
Let me wrap up by saying that the Greens are ready and willing to engage in a debate about energy policy. We want to play a constructive role in the development of that policy and we are excited about the potential that there is in the ACT for innovation and common sense to come together in an aware, well-educated and generally relatively wealthy city.
We know that Canberra is one of the best-placed cities in Australia to implement real changes, but we are starting to get tired of the talk. We want to see real action, and plenty of people that I talk to share that sort of frustration. I sincerely hope that the minister’s visit to Europe with his senior department officials has inspired and motivated them all to get started with implementing policies that will deliver real change, real emission reductions and secure a clean energy future for Canberra.
I hope that the minister is successful in infusing his cabinet colleagues with the same sense of enthusiasm and perhaps a dose of urgency, because I think the minister has made an important statement today. I think he has delivered some visionary ideas back to the Assembly from countries and places that are ahead of the ACT. I congratulate the minister on his statement today. I think it has made a useful contribution to the debate. I look forward to working closely with the government to really make some of these ideas happen, so that we can turn around where the ACT is currently heading and make us a national leader.
MS LE COUTEUR (Molonglo) (4.31): Like my colleague Mr Rattenbury, I would like to make very positive comments about the minister’s paper. It is really good to see that one member, at least—hopefully more than one member of the government—is really inspired in seeing that we have a problem and that we can tackle it and solve it.
I really hope that this level of enthusiasm becomes part of the whole government and becomes part of the opposition. I do not have to hope that it becomes part of the Greens because we are already well and truly on side on that one, but I hope that it becomes part of the whole Assembly and part of the workings of the whole government and the workings of the ACT as a whole. So I thank the minister very much for this statement, as a statement of hope and vision.
With respect to more negative comments, as the minister said in his first comment, we need to get past talking. The time for action is here. I could not agree more: the time for action is here. Unfortunately, as the minister was able to say, the ACT’s emissions have been going up by 1.7 per cent annually since 2000. That is not a record that anybody in the ACT can be pleased about, and we need to take action. I have some small degree of cynicism or unease about this. Members may remember that I introduced a bill earlier this year to increase the energy efficiency of hot-water services in the ACT. This did not meet a very happy fate from the point of view of the Labor government.
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