Page 1361 - Week 04 - Thursday, 12 April 2018
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the National Press Club address by Mr Frydenberg actually was more helpful to this place than being here for that motion.
The other aspect of this motion is the fact that it does not actually hold the government to account on anything and he makes no call to action. But then I suppose calling on yourself to deliver on something is probably a little pointless. I think this highlights the opportunistic approach that Minister Rattenbury takes to his role in this government and his status as both Greens leader and a minister in the Barr government.
If we turn to the intent and content of the motion, as he has stated, the Canberra Liberals have, both before and after the 2016 election, supported the ACT government in its pursuit of a 100 per cent renewable energy by 2020 target, taking into consideration affordability and reliability as priority factors in reaching this target. We have already acknowledged that the ACT government has secured fixed contracts with renewable energy suppliers for an amount of electricity that current modelling suggests will cover the ACT demand to 2020.
We know the importance of retail competition and we certainly understand the importance of a reliable and secure electricity supply system that will provide affordable electricity to the community. Given Minister Rattenbury’s previous numerous threats to hold up agreement on the NEG I am not sure that he has fully accepted the importance of a reliable and secure electricity supply system that will provide affordable electricity to the community.
I should not have to point out the obvious. We are the smallest player in the national energy market. We have little to no power generation located here and limited energy distributors. Having a Greens minister turning up at a national energy ministers meeting demanding changes and purporting to have the support of everyone in the ACT is frankly an insult to all Canberrans.
Where is the Chief Minister in all this? Where is his leadership while his Greens minister is making threats to boycott a guarantee that will provide a clear, sensible, nationally consistent energy policy for the entire country? I would have hoped that the minister would have used his privilege to deliver a statement that informed ACT ratepayers and ACT energy users of what is going to happen in the next few years as we embrace additional renewable energy options.
What is going to happen to those households that currently use gas? I know that many people in my—also the minister’s—electorate of Kurrajong are worried that they face a very uncertain and potentially expensive future if or when the government decides to remove gas from energy options. We already have the entire Denman Prospect suburb on solar; wood heaters banned in some suburbs and, of course, no gas to Ginninderry. What is next on the agenda?
At an electorate community meeting on Tuesday this week several questions were raised about what residents should be doing about ageing gas appliances. Should they buy another gas stove or heater? Should they scrape together or borrow money for solar? Should they buy it now or wait in the hope the price goes down? They asked
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