Statutes Amendment (Electricity and Gas) Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 23 June 2016.)

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (16:10): I rise on behalf of Liberal members to support the second reading of the Statutes Amendment (Electricity and Gas) Bill. In doing so, I pay tribute to my colleague the member for Stuart who has had carriage of the legislation for the Liberal Party and very capably handled its passage through the House of Assembly. This bill is an omnibus bill developed after reviews of the electricity and gas acts, which we are told first started back in 2012-13, and the legislation before us today was first introduced into the House of Assembly back in May of this year. It addresses a number of issues relating to the electricity and gas industries, including safety, technical standards, administrative legal matters and a range of other miscellaneous issues as well.

The member for Stuart's summary of the bill highlights the following key measures: there are many, but the key measures of the bill are that it enables electricity entities to prune or remove hazardous trees outside of the currently prohibited buffer zones around powerlines, which allows trimming or removal of trees that may fall onto powerlines but are outside of the buffer zone. Mr President, as you would be aware and most members would be aware, the issue of the pruning or removal of trees around powerlines has been a controversial issue forever and a day, and I am sure it will continue to be an issue as people express concern about the manner and nature of the pruning of trees, particularly in built-up areas, and in other regions of South Australia there are issues of access, etc., which concern local communities as well.

The second key issue is that the bill will enable authorised officers to enter land for the purposes of inspection, without written consent, in prescribed bushfire zones. Currently, officers are only allowed to enter land with written consent and this provision still exists for areas outside bushfire zone areas. The bill grants authorised officers additional investigatory powers. The bill increases maximum penalties and expiation notices and introduces new offences. The bill enables prosecutions for noncompliant work to be brought within three years instead of two years, as noncompliant work, the government argues, is often not identified within the two-year period.

The bill modifies privilege for self-incrimination, making information the person gives relating to the safety of electrical installations and equipment inadmissible as evidence. The bill transfers the administration process for approving safety, reliability, maintenance and technical management plans from ESCOSA to the technical regulator. The bill establishes a regime for assurances and enforcement orders to avoid legal proceedings ending up in court.

The bill extends the technical regulator's authority to direct an electrician or gasfitter to rectify defective electrical or gas installation work or equipment if the work was carried out within the last two years. The position the Liberal Party has adopted, on the advice of the member for Stuart, our shadow minister in the area, is that generally most of the issues canvassed in the bill are noncontroversial and have sought to resolve issues that have arisen over time in these industries.

The government has advised, and we have had no evidence to the contrary, that they have consulted with SA Power Networks, ElectraNet, Envestra, AGL, Consumer and Business Services, ESCOSA, the LGA and the ASU. The government's advice is that none of those stakeholders raised any major concerns with the legislation before us. As I said, the advice from the shadow minister is that subsequent to the introduction we also have not received any significant concerns being expressed by any of those stakeholders to the major tenants of the legislation.

The Liberal Party's position is that, by and large, 95 per cent of the bill is to be supported, but there are two particular areas on which the shadow minister has recommended that amendments be moved, and I have filed amendments on behalf of the party for debate. They basically cover two areas. The first is in relation to clause 11, which is about the ability of officers or authorised people to enter private property for the purpose of inspection within bushfire zones. The bill seeks to change the requirements from having to give written notice to not having to give written notice.

The amendments that the shadow minister has drafted for the Liberal Party, and which we will debate, would put this requirement back in, but with a little more flexibility. That flexibility involves that at least two months prior to the inspection the electricity entity must publish a prescribed notice in a newspaper circulating throughout the state, or in a newspaper circulating within the area of the council and on free-to-air public radio broadcast services, operated by two local radio stations.

The second broad area is in relation to the issue of the new powers and obligations of authorised officers, in particular the power of authorised officers to access vehicles as well as places, and the amendments that the shadow minister has asked us to move, and which we will do, relate to those specific provisions in the powers and obligations of authorised officers.

It is certainly our intention to proceed to a vote on the second reading today but not to proceed into the committee stage. The shadow minister advises that, if he has not done so already, he will consult with crossbenchers in relation to the purpose and nature of the Liberal Party's amendments prior to us proceeding to a committee stage debate sometime next week. With that, I indicate our support for the second reading.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (16:18): I thank members for their contributions on this bill and I look forward to the committee stage.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.M. Gazzola.