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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-06-18 Daily Xml
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Carbon Neutral Adelaide

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Gazzola.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Gazzola has the floor.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (14:48): My question is to the Minister for Climate Change. Will the minister inform the chamber about recent activities to progress the goal of making Adelaide the world's first carbon-neutral city?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:48): I would love to. Mr President, 2015 is certainly turning out to be a year of action on climate change, at least in South Australia as well as Victoria and New South Wales. Those governments are taking climate change seriously, but unfortunately not so much at the federal level.

Since the Governor announced our goal to make Adelaide carbon neutral in February of this year, things have been progressing. In April we became the first Australian state where the state government and city council both signed key international agreements on climate change through the Compact of States and Regions and the Compact of Mayors, and on Monday 4 May we hosted the jurisdictional meeting on climate change, with the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Ms Christiane Figueres, addressing the meeting. Ms Figueres reconfirmed what we have long been committed to, that transitioning to a low-carbon economy will attract investment, drive innovation and create jobs.

On Tuesday 19 May a delegation of international experts from the Asia Pacific Environment Research Committee (APERC) included Adelaide as part of their tour to visit low-carbon cities because they had heard about our ambition to become the world's first carbon-neutral city.

APERC was established in 1996, I am advised, to support the energy activities of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). One of APERC’s projects is the low carbon model town aimed at combining energy-efficient buildings, transport and power systems to create communities that affordably reduce energy use and carbon emissions, whilst creating pleasant living conditions for their communities.

The visiting experts have been working with cities across the Asia Pacific region, including Portland in the U.S. and Yokohama in Japan, to develop a set of low carbon city indicators. They came to Adelaide to see whether these indicators can apply to Adelaide and assist with our goal to make Adelaide carbon neutral in partnership with the Adelaide City Council. As part of their visit they got a taste of the innovative work being done by our universities and other institutions in the areas of hybrid cars, biofuels, solar, water-sensitive design and buildings. They visited the Bowden and Tonsley Park development precincts to see the innovative way we are converting these sites.

This delegation came on the back of the Leaders and Leading Thinkers Forum that was held on Friday 8 May to begin discussions about how to turn the goal of a carbon-neutral Adelaide into a reality. What is clear is that we need a model that is both innovative and bold. It is not good enough for a government to go it alone. Our leadership must empower both business and our residents, and foster a sense of collaboration and community input across the city.

We will need to build on our strengths and make some tough decisions that will create the necessary change required to meet our carbon neutrality target. South Australia is very much in transition at the moment, with traditional industries declining and new ones emerging. In this context, moving towards a low-carbon economy has the potential to attract investment, drive innovation and create jobs. It will enable us to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, invest in clean energy and devise new financing mechanisms. We are already sharing and trading our clean technology expertise within our region, and there is enormous capacity to expand on this. These industries will provide the jobs of the future and position Australia as a key player in helping the world realise a low-carbon future. The Leaders and Leading Thinkers workshop was a first step.

The Adelaide City Council and the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources will now refine their ideas and suggestions that came out of these workshops to formulate the next steps. In addition, we will be progressing formal governance arrangements between the council and the state government. We will be working with the Conservation Council to bring into partnership residents and the City of Adelaide to come on board with this ambitious plan. I will be encouraging people to get on board across the board and contribute to this exciting initiative that has the potential to open up many opportunities for Adelaide and the entire state.

Can I say to the federal government that if they are not going to get on board, then get out of our way and stop bragging to Alan Jones that you want to reduce renewable energy targets and reduce renewable energy projects in this country. Let us get on and build more of them.

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