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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-28 Daily Xml
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CARBON POLLUTION REDUCTION SCHEME

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (15:19): Can the Premier provide the house with information on South Australia's push to have voluntary action recognised under the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme?

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) (15:19): I thank the honourable member for Light for his question on this issue. It is of great concern for all Australians that we get this right. I watched the Lateline interview last night with Ian Plimer, and I have to say that I thought it was one of the better interviews I have seen on the ABC in recent years. I thought that the cat had been belled, basically. I found extraordinary some of the things that had been said that were then clearly not accurate.

The Labor government is strongly committed to reducing South Australia's greenhouse gas emissions and being part of national and international efforts to address climate change. To this end, the state government has passed the nation's first climate change legislation; has included emissions reduction and energy efficiency targets in South Australia's Strategic Plan; has invested in a range of climate change initiatives to ensure that our SASP targets are met; and has continued to work towards decreasing emissions in collaboration with local government, industry, community and education sectors. The work has included completion of sector agreements with the South Australian Wine Industry Association, the Local Government Association, the Property Council and the Anglican Church.

The state government has also contributed to the national effort to address climate change and to the design of Australia's emissions trading scheme. This contribution has occurred through the National Emissions Trading Task Force; by commissioning with other states and territories the Garnaut Climate Change Review—I am very proud that, as chairman of the Council of the Australian Federation at that stage, we commissioned Professor Garnaut; and providing submissions on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, including a detailed submission to the CPRS Green Paper in which the state government highlighted the need for assistance to the community and to emissions intensive trade exposed industries.

The state government supports the CPRS but believes that the current design could be improved by recognising certain types of abatement actions undertaken on a voluntary basis by households and individuals. Under the present design, households that reduce emissions by choosing to install solar panels or purchase renewable energy are not contributing to any greenhouse gas reduction under the CPRS. This is because the CPRS sets a minimum and maximum cap on carbon pollution, which means that people who install solar panels and buy renewable energy are effectively creating emissions space within the cap for someone else to fill.

Households and individuals prepared to make financial sacrifices for the sake of the environment deserve to have their efforts recognised. The purchase of renewable energy and domestic solar panels can be verified and measured. They are therefore capable of being taken into account when setting the national cap and trajectory under the CPRS. This measurement is provided through the commonwealth government's Solar Homes and Communities Plan (formerly known as the Photovoltaic Rebate Program), as well as the Office of Renewable Energy Regulator and the government GreenPower Program, which maintain data on GreenPower purchases. Other households actions, such as those to improve energy efficiency, could also be considered, but those actions have measurement issues with regard to energy savings and emissions reduction that would need to be addressed.

There are international precedents for the recognition of voluntary action in emissions trading schemes, particularly in the regional greenhouse gas initiative in the United States and, to a lesser extent, in the United Kingdom's European Union emissions trading scheme and carbon reduction commitment. In April I wrote to the Prime Minister proposing that voluntary action by individuals and households to reduce greenhouse gas emissions be recognised and valued under the CPRS. I also proposed that the issue be raised at the upcoming COAG meeting in Tasmania.

In addition, the state government provided a submission to the Senate select committee on climate policy, recommending that the appropriate clauses of the draft CPRS legislation, clauses 14 and 15 (which I am sure other members have also examined in detail), be amended to require that voluntary action be factored into setting the national emissions cap and trajectory. I am pleased that minister Wong has indicated a willingness to consider taking further account of voluntary actions in the design of CPRS. Senator Penny Wong has indicated that she would 'consider a suggestion from Labor senators to amend the proposed legislation to make sure that voluntary action by the community to reduce emissions is taken into account when setting targets'. Senator Wong has further stated that 'existing and potentially future voluntary action can be taken into account when setting the caps…sections 14 and 15 in the act make it very clear that voluntary action can be taken into account'.

While the legislation has scope to take voluntary action into account when setting caps, I believe this should be obligatory, not discretionary, as it is at the moment. It is worth noting that our state's renewable energy efforts and investments have paid off. South Australians have installed domestic solar panels at a much higher rate than the rest of the nation. This is partially due to our solar feed-in scheme—the first solar feed-in law in Australia which pays a guaranteed tariff of 44¢ per unit of electricity (kilowatt hour) for households and small customers who feed solar electricity into the grid.

We are now seeing great results from our state's solar investment. I am delighted to inform the house that currently we have more than 30 per cent of the nation's domestic grid-connected solar photovoltaic capacity, and over the past 12 months alone the number of grid-connected installations has doubled to almost 5,300 systems. I am advised that we also have 58 per cent of the nation's installed wind power and from 2002 to last year attracted more than 97 per cent of the national investment in geothermal exploration.

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