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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-06-03 Daily Xml
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CLIMATE CHANGE

Ms CICCARELLO (Norwood) (14:36): Can the Premier please inform the house about the first sector agreement under the Climate Change and Greenhouse Emissions Reduction Act 2007 and other relevant climate change initiatives?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:37): I thank the honourable member for Norwood for a very good question. On 22 May, I signed the wine sector agreement with the South Australian winemakers and South Australian grape growers at the London International Wine Show. This agreement is the first sector agreement under the Climate Change and Greenhouse Emissions Reduction Act 2007 and follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding last September with Business SA which will facilitate agreements with small to medium businesses in our state.

The agreement with the wine industry is important for two reasons. Firstly, it demonstrates that the wine industry is serious about tackling climate change and will work with the state government in reducing its carbon footprint in support of the target in the legislation which is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent of 1990 levels by 2050. Secondly, the agreement will help ensure the industry remains competitive in a market where consumers and retailers are increasingly sensitive to the carbon footprint of their wines.

Just to put that into context, I was in Britain a couple of years ago and met with wine buyers and wine writers and what I was told then was that we were seeing changes in the consumer patterns in Britain and that, whilst obviously quality and price would be important and whilst it was also important for British consumers to know the story of the wine and to know about the character of the winemaker and the character of the region, increasingly they would want to know about the attitudes of that winemaker, that region and that industry to global warming and what actions they intended to take—for instance, how many carbon miles were involved in exporting bottles of wine or litres of wine from South Australia across the world.

This is very important because it will help ensure the industry remains competitive in a market where consumers and retailers are increasingly sensitive to the carbon footprint of their wines. The UK is Australia's largest wine export destination. Of the nearly $1 billion of Australian wine sold in the UK, South Australian wines make up a massive 72 per cent of the market, I am informed. Tesco, the largest supermarket customer for South Australian wine, is currently undertaking a project to measure the carbon footprint of 30 products on Tesco's shelves. The giant supermarket chain is aggressively pursuing a greener living campaign and it has recently started freighting its wine stocks from Liverpool to Manchester by barge in order to save on carbon emissions. The message is clear. Our wine export industry must adapt to climate change and growing consumer awareness or risk market failure. 'Go green or wither on the vine' was the message I got in Britain.

This agreement is a critical first step towards ensuring that our local wineries are not left behind in a highly competitive global market. The goals of the agreement are to improve energy efficiencies and to develop other greenhouse gas reduction strategies in order to position South Australia as a world leader in new technologies and product innovation sensitive to climate change. The government is working currently on a number of sector agreements with industry and business that I hope to be signing over the coming months.

This is about the government taking a leadership role and working collaboratively with business and industry to prepare for the carbon-constrained world. We know that a national emissions trading scheme will be established by the end of 2010, so governments and industries must start preparing now.

South Australia is also taking a leadership role in renewable energy technologies. With only 8 per cent of the nation's population, South Australia has nearly 47 per cent of the nation's installed wind generation capacity. We are home to more than 80 per cent of Australia's total investment in geothermal energy, with the first geothermal electricity to be produced, I am told, by January 2009 from a pilot plant.

I am further advised that currently we have nearly 40 per cent of Australia's grid-connected solar capacity. I hope to see that grow with the start of the new feed-in scheme on 1 July, where households and small consumers will be rewarded for installing solar panels by paying them double the retail price for the surplus energy they return to the grid; and I thank the Minister for Energy for his strong support.

Mr Hamilton-Smith interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: The Leader of the Opposition says that Labor has killed the solar industry. Let me remind him of the figures. By next year 20 per cent of the power in this state will come from sustainable energy, putting us in a world leadership position.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: Recognised around the world.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Recognised around the world. If members opposite do not believe me, they should go and talk to David Suzuki, David Milliband, Tony Blair, Mikhail Gorbachev, Robert Kennedy Jnr or Al Gore.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: And go and talk to Arnold Schwarzenegger. My message to Arnold Schwarzenegger is: 'I'll be back. I'll see him in the movies.' The new Goyder Pavilion at the Royal Adelaide Showgrounds will—

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The Premier will be invited to resume when the house comes to order. I have received complaints about the heat in the house, and I have no wish for the house to become even more heated. In the interim, I have asked the attendants to open the door to the chamber and I will consider it respectful if people remove their jackets. The Premier.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: The new Goyder Pavilion at the Royal Adelaide Showgrounds will house Australia's largest rooftop installation of solar panels. With the state government providing $8 million for the project, I am told the installation will be around five times the size of the nation's next largest installation at Melbourne's Queen Victoria Market.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: I know you like this because the previous Liberal government put in $35 million for the Royal Adelaide Showgrounds, and we are making an $8 million commitment for the biggest solar array on any rooftop in Australia—five times bigger than that in Melbourne, which is currently the biggest.

The installation will complement the environmental features already part of the new pavilion, which includes the capacity to capture and store 3.5 million litres of stormwater run-off in an underground tank. I am very pleased that we are doing that—10,000 square metres of solar array; from memory, 1,000 kilowatts producing 1,400-megawatt hours of power a year. Of course, that comes down to saving 1,400 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. It is fantastic that the Royal Adelaide Show will be a real national and international showplace for green technology and green design.

One of the earliest environmental initiatives of this government (in fact, I am going to write to Arnold Schwarzenegger about this one), which has attracted great support from many South Australians, including school students and young people, is the Urban Forests Million Trees Program. In 2003, we began planting 1 million native trees in a series of urban forests across metropolitan Adelaide to combat climate change and protect our local biodiversity. I want to pay tribute to the Deputy Premier for his support for this initiative.

On the advice of one of our thinkers in residence, Herbert Girardet, we decided to turn it from 1 million to 3 million. Today I had the pleasure of planting the 1.5 millionth tree to mark the halfway mark, with well-known conservationist Terri Irwin and her daughter Bindi and her son Robert. I am very pleased that the family decided to name the tree 'Steve' after their late father. I was pleased to be able to invite the family to come back in about a year or 18 months' time to welcome the pandas to South Australia, because I know that members on all sides of this house look forward to that ringing cry on that day when we all say, 'Go pandas.' I commend these initiatives to the house.

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