Page 3113 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 22 August 2017
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him. However, the fact is that we do have a separate Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, and I am sure that the Canberra public would have liked to have had answers directly from the minister in charge of this important issue relating to the environment.
There was much discussion about current contractual arrangements for wind and solar power and the costs that will ultimately be borne by ACT energy consumers. The costs become academic, as does the argument of whether the source is renewable or not if power is not available.
Recent public commentary on renewable energy targets would suggest that while the ACT is on track to meet its 2020 renewable energy goal, the longer term is not so assured. Officials confirmed that “There is no policy commitment beyond 2020.” And when you factor in transfer from gas to electricity across a number of energy uses, and projected population growth, the renewable target becomes harder to deliver without increased investment. This becomes more problematic when we hear reports that future investment may be in doubt because it is becoming increasingly uneconomical for the private sector. The framework is yet to be developed, and there is less than three years to get it sorted.
Earlier this year, in response to a motion brought by Minister Rattenbury, the Canberra Liberals supported the 2020 target but firmly put on the record our ongoing concern that the government stay vigilant on reliability and cost to consumers. Reliability becomes more than a concern when officials admit that load shedding is possible this summer. And in question time last Wednesday, 16 August, the minister once again acknowledged that “the prospect of that occurring again this summer is a real one”.
The budget commits significant moneys to water initiatives. The ACT healthy waterways program is a $93.5 million joint initiative between the ACT and federal governments. The H2OK program, included in this initiative, has in the past few days announced grant recipients for innovative ways of stormwater management, which had not been decided at the time of estimates. While the grants are relatively small, I look forward to seeing what benefits they deliver and what take-up there is by other households and land users. I congratulate all the grant recipients.
The ACT water strategy, ACT water strategy 2014-44: striking the balance, sets out how the ACT government will manage the territory’s water resources over the next 30 years to meet our urban and environmental needs and regional responsibilities. It covers the full breadth of water management activities in the ACT, including catchment management, stormwater and flood management, water supply and services, water for the environment, recreational water use and public health. We heard from officials that in one of the targets, water use reduction, the ACT is ahead of schedule. It is important that Canberrans continue to respect our waterways and manage this important, finite resource responsibly.
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