Page 984 - Week 03 - Thursday, 28 February 2013
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revolution; a revolution that prioritises green and sustainable solutions to our environmental and economic problems. We need to create new jobs in green energy, we need to shift to smarter design and smarter buildings, we need to shift to new fuels and new distribution methods and we need to transport people from A to B with an eye on the future and not on the past. My colleagues and I often say this, but the economy is a subset of the environment, and not the other way around. When we begin to take sustainability seriously, jobs will be created and society will adapt, just as it always has.
The ACT is arguably Australia’s leading jurisdiction when it comes to the provision of education. Not only does education directly generate jobs, it gives us the capacity to generate green jobs second to none. Jobs in the new industries will of course involve learning new skills. Equally, the transition for current industries to new, more sustainable practices will involve a significant up-skilling for many in our community.
We are a knowledge-based economy and we should be investing in our strengths. Improvements to our IT infrastructure and capacity are in the ACT’s economic interests and will allow us to participate in the knowledge economy and capitalise on our educational resources.
There are tremendous opportunities for new initiatives and economic creativity and prosperity. Initiatives like the feed-in tariff form an important part of how we respond to climate change. The world over, feed-in tariffs have been the single most effective driver of renewable energy generation. Energy efficiency is the cheapest, most sensible way of reducing our carbon footprint. The institutionalising of action by energy retailers on energy efficiency is the kind of mechanism that drives gradual and sustained industry expansion in a sector that will be of great environmental benefit.
We cannot pretend that green industries have been easy to establish over the past two decades, as without a price on carbon, everything that was “green” was more expensive. Fortunately, we are now past that point. As the playing field on greenhouse emission is levelled through carbon pricing, we are standing on the edge of the expansion of industries that have, at their core, delivery of goods and services that will not only benefit the economy and deliver more jobs but also benefit the environment.
To develop sustainable jobs we cannot as governments stop and start the incentives that drive the development of these industries without risking a loss of jobs and reduction in investment in these sectors. The solar industry in Australia is one such sector that has taken a beating over the years. Federal policy shifts in the early days were frequent, as rebate programs stopped and started. The MRET was discontinued at one stage by the Howard government and then restarted under Labor. Local solar industries have been affected by changes to the small-scale feed-in tariff.
The fact that a federal coalition government would unpick the carbon price—the price signal has gone out to fossil fuel generators and renewable energy generators alike—shows just how out of touch with the needs of business they are and how bad for long-term jobs that sort of decision by an Abbott government would be.
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