CARBON TAX

Mr PISONI (Unley) (14:32): My question is to the Minister for Education. How much will Labor's carbon tax cost the state's education system each year, and how much federal compensation will be given to offset the increased costs?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Education, Minister for Early Childhood Development, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:33): I thank the honourable member for his question. Of course, that is yet to be determined; the scheme is yet to be fully finalised. The state government has put in place a range of measures to assist schools with some of the burdens that are associated with rising electricity costs which are likely to occur as a consequence of these arrangements.

A very substantial proportion of school buildings now have solar panels, which have been the subject of capital investment at our schools, and, of course, in the last budget $16.6 million was made available over five years—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Unley!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —to provide additional support to schools to deal with their electricity needs. Of course, it is part of the government's commitment generally to improve the energy efficiency of government buildings by 25 per cent from 2000-01 levels by 2014.

DECS is represented on a whole-of-government energy efficiency group and contributes to interdepartmental information sharing on effective ways of implementing that plan and reviewing the scope and effectiveness of DECS quality management procedures for dealing with energy use, data capture and reporting. So there is a whole-of-government process that DECS is part of, which is about taking steps to ensure that we have energy efficiency. Everybody accepts we are in a carbon-constrained environment. That is going to—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Not everyone.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's true. There are, of course, the sceptics opposite. We are, of course, realising that reality and, whether or not there was a carbon tax on the horizon, it was rational to take these steps to insulate the state public sector, in particular our education department, from the rising costs that were always going to be consequent on putting a price on carbon.

DECS schools, preschools and early years electricity consumption has responded to these measures. Departmental sites have been actively involved in a number of energy reduction strategies, including the National Solar Schools Program, the South Australian Solar Schools Program and the Green School Grants program. The South Australian Solar Schools Program, completed in December 2008, supplied 111 sites with solar panels. In July 2008 the National Solar Schools Program was launched to enable schools to apply for up to $50,000 in funding for solar power systems, as well as electricity efficiency installations, and 127 DECS schools have received funding in that regard. Of course, the Building the Education Revolution is also expected to increase the structural site facilities and have an impact on school energy use.

There are a range of ways in which we are seeking to address the pressures that exist in relation to schools, the most substantial of which was the last budget.

Mr PISONI: I have a point of order, Madam Speaker. The question was about costs and I do not believe—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr PISONI: I do not believe that the minister even attempted to answer the question about costs.

The SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. The minister can answer the question as he chooses. If you listened carefully, there was a substantial amount of information there. Add it all up.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! It is the last day. Let's behave. The member for Frome.