Statutes Amendment (National Electricity and Gas Laws - Information Collection and Publication) Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 20 October 2016.)

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (16:40): I rise to speak on this bill on behalf of my colleagues but, in doing so, indicate that I will be addressing this bill and its companion bill in the terms of a cognate debate, personally. I know it is not formally a cognate debate, but they are related issues in relation to the National Electricity Market. I will have a relatively brief contribution on this bill and a more considered and lengthy contribution on the companion bill, which I will commence this evening and seek leave to conclude tomorrow morning.

This particular bill—the Statutes Amendment (National Electricity and Gas Laws-Information Collection and Publication) Bill—is one that the opposition was pleased to support through our shadow minister in the House of Assembly. It is part of a package of two bills, as I indicated, that are, in my view and our view, modest in nature in terms of what they seek to achieve. This particular bill proposes to provide additional powers to the Australian Energy Regulator to collect and publish data necessary to benchmark the performance of electricity and gas network service providers.

Secondly, it seeks to clarify the AER's functions and power in respect of compulsory powers to collect information and performance reporting functions, including annual benchmarking reports and the publication of information. Thirdly, it would enable the Australian Energy Regulator to obtain data solely for benchmarking reports, which is, evidently, restricted under the current legislation. Fourthly, it imposes an up-front obligation on service providers to make an express claim of confidentiality when submitting the information and to provide justification at that time, without which, otherwise, the information could be made public.

In and of itself, all this bill is seeking to do is to provide the extra power and capacity of the Australian Energy Regulator to collect more information in a specific form and allow it to produce that information in terms of, hopefully, being better informed and more illustrative of the performance of the market and service providers in terms of their operations within the National Electricity Market. Members who follow this market will know that the Australian Energy Regulator is already required every five years to assess and approve each regulated network service provider's revenue allowance to apply for the regulatory period, and in doing that, I think, without exception (not that I have checked every report), clearly benchmark service provision by other service providers in terms of service standards and performance.

This particular bill is to provide additional benchmarking service capacity for the Australian Energy Regulator and to make it clear that it can collect whatever information it requires to better inform the market. For those reasons, we have no objection to it. There are provisions in relation to a different way of tackling confidentiality issues of the information that is provided. The shadow minister advises that the industry associations that represent these service providers, and some of the service providers themselves, have not raised concerns with him and with us about the provisions in the bill. It is being supported, as we are the lead regulator in the National Energy Market, by, we understand, all other governments and jurisdictions. For those reasons, I am pleased to indicate the Liberal Party's support for the legislation.

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) (16:44): I thank honourable members for their contributions, particularly the opposition spokesperson in this chamber, and I look forward to the swift passage through to the committee stage.

Bill read a second time.

Committee Stage

Bill taken through committee without amendment.

Third 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) (16:48): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.