Page 1915 - Week 05 - Thursday, 3 May 2012
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The last area that I was particularly focused on related to the scheme administrators. I felt that in the information provided thus far there was a lack of detail about the scheme administrators, specifically who they would be, how and when their appointment would be made and how they would be funded. From looking at the regulatory impact statement in more detail and from the discussions with the department, we understand that $1.8 million in revenue from the scheme has been earmarked over the period of the program for administration costs, which will cover annual costs of $495,000 for administration of the scheme.
I am somewhat frustrated that the minister has not finalised who the administrators will be or when they will be announced. Given that the administrator is the make or break of the scheme and that these crucial details remain to be determined, I invite the minister to use his closing remarks in the debate today to elaborate on the details of how this scheme will operate. I understand that it will be part of the directorate and that specific staff will be allocated. I would welcome the minister confirming that in his remarks today.
Having examined all of these questions and satisfied ourselves that issues that we thought about have been addressed in the design of the scheme, or have the capability to be addressed by the administrator, the one outstanding issue we have with the bill is that the legislation currently enables the minister to determine any eligible activity by notifiable instrument, giving the Assembly no power to review the validity of the minister’s determination. This was also an issue of concern raised in the scrutiny report and it is somewhat of a paradox given the section heading under which this provision falls—namely, “targets and important concepts”. It is our view that the determination of an important concept should not be assigned exclusively to the minister. Consequently, I will be moving an amendment in the detail stage that will seek to change this from a notifiable instrument to a disallowable instrument. I will speak more to that at the time.
In conclusion, we support the introduction of this legislation and welcome the energy reductions it promises to deliver. The initiative provides a platform for energy retailers to evolve from being just about selling as much electricity as they can to providing a complete energy service, therefore becoming powerful players in the broader climate solution.
The energy reductions that the scheme promises to deliver will in the long term help to insulate Canberrans from the upward spiralling of energy prices. By countering the existing market failures which inhibit greater uptake of energy efficiency measures, the scheme will also help to stimulate the expansion of the ACT’s clean energy economy. Importantly, it will deliver a considerable contribution towards the achievement of our 40 per cent greenhouse gas reduction targets. The Greens look forward to working with the government, industry and consumers to implement this important and much-awaited piece of legislation.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (11.07): The Canberra Liberals are committed to addressing cost of living issues in our city. We are the only party with the desire and the policies to do so. I am always open to ideas that aim to
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