Page 5061 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 26 October 2010

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To address that issue, the government will be conceding the point and will not be calling for a vote in relation to my amendment. We will subsequently be supporting Mr Rattenbury’s amendment when it is moved.

Amendment negatived.

MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (4.43): I move amendment No 19 circulated in my name [see schedule 2 at page 5091].

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 17, as reconsidered, agreed to.

Title.

MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water, Minister for Energy and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (4.44): I would like to thank members for their contribution to the debate on this bill. This is an important piece of legislation, a piece of legislation the Labor government is very proud to be putting forward to the Assembly today.

It establishes a clear framework for the territory to move towards a low carbon future. This is essential for our children and their children. It is essential to ensure that our economy and our community are well placed to meet the challenge of climate change, to adapt to it and to ensure that we continue to provide a just, equitable, sustainable and liveable city for future generations.

The bill before us today, which we are about to vote on in toto, is a bill which provides for ambitious but achievable greenhouse gas reduction targets. They are targets based on the science. They are targets that recognise that making that transition requires a significant effort on the part of all advanced Western economies. This city is one of the most affluent cities per capita in the nation. It is not without its disadvantage, not without those who struggle. But it is a city in an advanced Western economy and we believe that these targets are the targets needed for the future.

We believe that these targets pave the way for a significant and important debate and decisions about how we manage settlement and development in our city, how we manage energy supply in our city and how we manage the provision of transport in our city.

The legislation will give guidance and will set the framework when forming decisions in all of those areas. But more importantly, it will act as a significant spur not just to the government itself in this place and the policies and the legislation we put forward. It will also act as a spur for the broader community—for individuals, for community organisations and most importantly for businesses. Businesses can focus on how they can contribute towards these levels of carbon reduction, how they can seize the economic opportunities that come from that, how they can transform their businesses, create jobs, create economic advantage, and create new industries and new areas of


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