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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-11-27 Daily Xml
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SOLAR ENERGY

The Hon. M. PARNELL (14:58): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, representing the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, a question about taxing the sun.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M. PARNELL: A non-profit, non-partisan organisation going by the name of Solar Citizens is heading to Canberra next week to lobby federal ministers and MPs to protect the rights of more than one million Australian households that now generate renewable solar electricity from their rooftops.

Under the banner 'Don't tax the sun', Solar Citizens will be presenting a petition of over 23,000 signatures and urging the government not to capitulate to the big power companies that want small solar power generators (ordinary Australians) to pay more for feeding renewable energy back into the grid. The petition is available on the Solar Citizen website: www.solarcitizens.org.au and reads as follows:

Dear Prime Minister, State Premiers and Energy Ministers,

Recently, the Australian Energy Market Commission recommended increasing penalties and tariffs to solar owners—in effect, taxing the sun. This sun tax is outrageous—over 1 million families in Australia have made the move to solar to take control of their energy production and reduce their energy bills. It's unfair that families who have done the right thing would be penalised in any way.

Solar is not what is driving up electricity costs. Investment in polls, wires and dying technologies are. Instead of a sun tax, you should look at the best way to deal with those network costs, which are, in truth, the real costs increases that are hurting all Australians.

Solar energy is the energy production of the future, growing internationally and rising rapidly here in Australia. We should be increasing investment in solar—not penalising families and letting big power companies dictate our energy future.

That's the end of their petition. As well as meeting federal officials, Solar Citizens also intends to meet with state and territory energy ministers in mid-December. My question of the minister is: when Solar Citizens come to meet you next month, will you be siding with the big electricity companies, or will you fight for the rights of ordinary South Australian households who are doing their bit to protect the environment and manage their energy bills by investing in solar energy?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:00): I thank the honourable member for his most important question and will refer that question to the Minister for Energy in another place and bring back a response—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —straight back—as soon as I possibly can. I'll wait outside his room. I know that the minister is a very considered man. I know that he carefully listens to and is prepared to listen to all points of view, and I am sure he will do so on this occasion.

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