Page 3794 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 29 October 2014
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Similarly, we have the energy efficiency improvement scheme. The Liberal Party oppose that, but it is actually delivering really significant benefits to this city and will continue to do so for many years to come.
Ms Lawder talked about Canberra being the coldest city in the country. She provided an anecdote about a pensioner that she had met that had struggled to pay their electricity bills as an example of others in the community. That is a really tricky issue because, as we have discussed in this place before, we already have the cheapest electricity in Australia—in the order of $1,500 a year cheaper than just across the border in Queanbeyan—so already there is a significant advantage to living in Canberra to deal with the cold climate.
The energy efficiency improvement scheme is a sure way to improve the ability of pensioners, as well as other households, to cope with their electricity bills in the long run in what is quite a cold city in the winter. Those sorts of schemes make a real difference. The cheapest unit of electricity is the one you do not buy. So by improving the energy efficiency of homes we are not only assisting people to improve their energy efficiency and therefore minimise their electricity bills and improve their cost of living situation but also to improve their quality of life through simply having a warmer, more comfortable home to live in.
When Ms Lawder comes in here and says, “I’m interested in doing the commonsense, practical things to tackle climate change,” I invite her and her colleagues to reflect on why they do not support the energy efficiency improvement scheme, which delivers those benefits in a very practical way and delivers real savings for our community, as well as delivering a good environmental outcome. We have debated it in this place before, but I call on those opposite to reflect, to look within themselves and to wonder why they do not support very practical and very realistic initiatives like that one.
I am also encouraged by the fact that there is a great deal of innovation taking place in the private sector. There are businesses that are bringing new environmental products into the market in Canberra, and I know a few of them. It is a hard road, but between their personal commitment to making a difference and their drive, and a lot of hard yards, they are making progress in establishing new small businesses in Canberra and creating opportunities for employment at the same time as delivering real environmental outcomes for this city.
Similarly, I am very impressed by the significant efforts in the community, whether it is groups like SEE-Change, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Canberra Loves 40% or 35.org. All of these groups are out there doing very practical things and putting a great deal of passion and effort into bringing about policy change and practical change on the ground, reflecting the fact that the community takes this issue very seriously.
It is a real challenge for Canberra in terms of reducing our per capita emissions in the wealthiest community, a community that already has the highest per capita emissions in the country. In that context, it is a real challenge to bring that down, particularly given that to a large extent emissions are still closely correlated to wealth. Being a very wealthy community, on average, Canberra has a real challenge there.
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