Carbon Neutral Adelaide

The Hon. T.T. NGO (14:56): I have a question for the Minister for Climate Change. Can the minister tell the house about the recent launch of the Carbon Neutral Adelaide Action Plan?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:56): A sensible question at last, and I thank the honourable member for his most important question. Last Tuesday, a very important milestone was reached with our vision to make Adelaide the world's first carbon neutral city, in conjunction with the City of Adelaide. Premier Jay Weatherill and the Lord Mayor, the Rt Hon. Mr Martin Haese, launched the Carbon Neutral Adelaide Action Plan 2016-2021.

This action plan sets out a clear agenda, outlining how we plan to build partnerships right across businesses, local and state government, and the broader community to realise our carbon neutral vision. It focuses on five key areas in our pathway to carbon neutrality, those being:

energy efficient buildings;

zero emissions transport;

towards 100 per cent renewable energy;

reducing emissions from waste and water; and

offsetting carbon emissions.

The plan will see city schools, businesses and individuals pledge to reduce their carbon footprint through a partnership program. The program aims to have one million square metres of city floor space committed to lower carbon emissions by 2020, and forecasts the decarbonisation of the state's electricity supply, an end to the purchase of fossil fuel powered buses within 10 years, a doubling in the number of cycling trips by 2020, and a significant increase in public transport use.

The Premier and the Lord Mayor were joined by Professor Warren Bebbington, Vice-Chancellor of Adelaide University, to announce that Adelaide University would commit to Carbon Neutral Adelaide's partnership program. Adelaide University is a major contributor to South Australia, providing almost 4,000 jobs and producing world-leading research. It is a key cultural and social institution in the city, and also adds significant vibrancy. The announcement that it will spend $14 million on building upgrades and projects that will reduce its carbon emissions helps set Adelaide apart, and is sure to add to its competitive advantage as an institution. In a future where prospective students increasingly weigh up environmental and ethical considerations when selecting their university, tangible actions like transitioning to carbon neutrality are vital in their choice.

The outcome of the Paris COP 21 agreement makes it very clear that we are part of the global community that is transitioning to a low carbon economy. We cannot afford to be left behind by this shift. What would our major trading partners say as they implement long-term carbon reduction strategies while we simply pretend climate change does not exist? What would they think if we joined with the Hon. Steven Marshall, the Leader of the Opposition in the other place, and jumped on the bandwagon full of climate change deniers and denounced renewable energy? It would mean better environmental outcomes for us, more jobs and greater opportunities for local businesses to invest if, in fact, we did the opposite.

We have now seen more than $7.1 billion worth of investment into renewables in South Australia, up from the $6.6 billion I mentioned in this place in recent times. That investment and the thousands of South Australians who work in the renewable energy and related sectors would all be put at risk if we were to adopt the policies championed by the Hon. Steven Marshall, the Leader of the Opposition (the member for Dunstan) in the other place, and that is to go and light up the coal-fired power station that has been dismantled in Port Augusta. That investment and the thousands of South Australians who work in the renewable energy and related sectors would all be put at risk.

We know that, if we are to meet our international obligations to reduce carbon emissions, we must reduce the emissions intensity of our electricity network. That should mean a national renewable energy target and an efficient market-based mechanism to address climate change. Instead, we have seen, at best, inaction by the federal government and, at worst, the repeal of legislation and mechanisms that were limiting carbon emissions.

But, by taking action at a subnational level, the states and, indeed, cities can foster our status as one of the world's most livable cities here in Adelaide with the cleaner and greener CBD. We can give South Australians an opportunity to improve their own health with new cycling and public transport infrastructure. Through our investment in energy efficient technology and renewable energy, we can enable South Australian entrepreneurs, innovators and their investors to create new jobs and industries in our state.

Carbon Neutral Adelaide is building on this great legacy so that, between 2001 and 2014, our government has improved energy efficiency of leased buildings by 24 per cent, I am advised. $2.6 billion has been invested since 2007 to extend the tram network and electrify the train network. About 35 per cent of Australia's installed wind capacity is in South Australia. We have reduced the carbon intensity of our electricity grid by more than 35 per cent since 2005. Our landfill diversion rate is Australia's highest at almost 80 per cent. This is all because we have set ambitious targets, but achievable targets, and we have not backed down on them.

We got behind these targets and we have backed them up with policies, such as Carbon Neutral Adelaide, that encourages new investment and creates jobs right across our state. I long for the day that a member of the South Australian Liberal Party will come into this place to ask me a question about how we can foster and grow our clean technology sector, but they are not the sorts of jobs they are interested in. They are not the sorts of jobs that they care about. They have some pathological hatred of renewables. I do not understand it. It is the energy sector that will provide jobs long into the future and yet they hark back to the bad old days of coal-fired power stations—that is their vision.

The Liberals did absolutely nothing—absolutely nothing—when the federal Liberals attacked the renewable energy target we have here in South Australia and when they attacked any market-based mechanism that would produce jobs and economic opportunity for our state. All they do is attack the growth potential of our incredibly important future renewable industry for our state and they completely ignore the job production that can come from these new opportunities arising from these innovations in these sectors.

The government will continue to work with the City of Adelaide, will continue to work with the University of Adelaide and will continue to work with our local businesses, community and the residents of the City of Adelaide to reduce our carbon emissions, provide the new clean energy jobs and a more vibrant city of the future.

I would like to congratulate, of course, my own department, the Department of Environment Water and Natural Resources, and its executive, Ms Sandy Pitcher, as well as the Adelaide City Council and the Lord Mayor, for their incredible ongoing work on Carbon Neutral Adelaide. It is important because it is the way of the future: it is where we will be in five, 10 and 15 years. People will look back and say, 'Thank goodness this government had the vision to take us there because, if we had left it to the Liberals, we would be in a massive hole, trying to reopen coal-fired power stations when no-one else in the world is.'