Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave for Senator Wortley to continue her speech.

Leave granted.

Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying before this debate was interrupted, in this year alone—the year of the government’s first budget—there will be more Commonwealth funding for solar power and, in fact, more installations of solar power systems than in any year in Australia’s history. The $100,000 means test for household solar power rebates was introduced to ensure that funding is targeted towards those Australian families who most need assistance with the high upfront costs of photovoltaic systems—and that is exactly what has been happening. Interestingly, the means test has been set at the same level as the existing means test for solar hot water rebates, which was introduced by the previous government under the then environment minister and now Leader of the Opposition.

It is significant that since its introduction, the demand for household solar power rebates has increased to record levels. In the six weeks leading up to the introduction of the means test, there was an average of 365 rebate applications per week. Contrary to suggestions that the means test would be the death of the industry, there has been continuing strong demand for the rebate—currently at around 750 applications per week. This is the highest level ever seen and it vindicates the government’s decision to move carefully to target the rebate. The government commitment of $160 million towards the program in the 2008-09 budget brought forward an additional $25.6 million so that more than $56 million in funding was available for an estimated 6,000 rebates this financial year. In light of the continuing strong demand for the rebate since the means test was introduced, the government has decided to further increase funding this year to continue meeting demand. The level of the rebate for a residential photovoltaic system is unchanged at $8 per watt, capped at one kilowatt, with a maximum rebate of $8,000 per installed system. In addition, renewable energy certificates generated by solar power systems will also continue to reduce the upfront cost of installing solar photovoltaic panels for all households.

Critically, the government has committed to a target to have 20 per cent of our electricity supply powered by renewable energy by 2020 through an almost fivefold increase in the legislated national renewable energy target. This increase in the renewable energy target will create significant opportunities for the solar power industry. But there is more. The government has launched the National Solar Schools Program, a program which aims to put a solar powered system on every primary and secondary school roof in Australia. It has already received around 2,200 registrations since 1 July this year, so more than 2,200 schools across the nation have signed up for this $480 million program. The program is designed to help schools improve their energy and water efficiency and reduce their costs, as well as to demonstrate to students in a hands-on way the simple steps everyone can take to reduce carbon pollution and to tackle climate change. As the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Mr Garrett, said:

… [the program] presents schools with an opportunity during the holidays or weekends, to become mini renewable power stations of their own by selling unused electricity generated by their solar systems back into the power network.

The program gives schools the chance to hold a sustainability assessment, look at their own circumstances, identify measures that will best suit them and then apply for grants of up to $50,000 to make such measures a reality.

The Rudd Labor government is committed to helping Australians take practical action on climate change as we transition to the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. It is also bringing forward subsidised low-interest green loans to help households invest in solar power and benefit from savings in their energy bills as a result. Given the totality of the government’s support for the solar power industry, together with increasing public willingness to invest, we believe the outlook for solar in Australia remains very positive. It is in a much improved position than it was under the previous government. If solar power, in all its forms, is to take its proper role in our future energy mix, it must become a mainstream solution. That is why the government is examining, and proceeding to implement—with care and thought for the future, not political expediency, as its primary motivators—a range of policies to address the now acute climate change challenge of which we are all well aware.

As I have said, this government is committed to assisting Australian households take practical action on climate change in the transition to the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Our Solar Homes and Communities Plan is one element in a comprehensive suite of programs for household and community renewable energy, and energy and water efficiency. This suite of programs includes: $250 million to support the installation of solar hot water systems in 225,000 Australian households under the Solar Hot Water Rebate Program; $300 million for subsidised low-interest green loans of up to $10,000 to help up to 200,000 existing households take practical action, from early 2009, by installing a range of renewable energy, energy efficient and water saving products in their homes, including solar power; $480 million for the National Schools Plan in which every school, as I have already said, can install at least a two-kilowatt solar system and a range of energy and water efficient measures; and the Renewable Remote Power Generation program, which provides up to 50 per cent of the cost of installing renewable energy systems, including solar power, for people who are not connected to a mains electricity supply.

The government is committed to assisting Australian households take practical action on climate change in the transition to the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. We remain strongly committed to helping Australians take this action, and to building a stronger solar industry and harnessing our abundant solar resources. In this year alone, I reiterate, there is more federal funding for solar power and more installations of solar power systems than in any year in Australia’s history.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Wortley for giving me an opportunity to speak in the last remaining four minutes of this debate on the Save Our Solar (Solar Rebate Protection) Bill 2008 [No. 2]. I too was a member of the inquiry of the Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications, Information Technology into this matter. I want to say from the outset that I was disappointed at the announcement by Prime Minister Rudd and Mr Garrett that the rebate threshold was to be placed on this particular great rebate initiated by the Howard government. What that did, instantly, was remove confidence from the industry. It removed confidence from households that would possibly purchase solar panels for their roofs in order to save money, to assist with the environment and to potentially, as time moved on, be able to actually supply additional power back into grids in their locations.

We were very disappointed that, prior to the election in 2007, the then Leader of the Opposition, Mr Rudd, gave no indication whatsoever that a means-tested threshold would be applying. We gave great indications that we would be continuing our scheme if we retained government. Mr Rudd led the population of Australia to believe that this rebate would continue and that there would be no means testing to the rebate. Then, out of the blue on budget eve, we found that a rebate was to be placed on it. It made it basically unaffordable for anyone who was eligible under the $100,000 family income threshold. It sent out a message to the solar panel industry, and to people within alternative energy areas, not to trust the Rudd government, because the Rudd government were not going to stand by any energy production that was not mainstream. Solar panels and the rebate were moving in such a direction that people were going to take up this challenge. We opposed that.

One of the other groups that surprised me—and I would have thought that they would have been very supportive of the Rudd Labor government—was none other than the Electrical Trades Union. This is a union that is heavily entrenched within the Labor movement. Under questioning at a Melbourne hearing, they indicated that they did not support this threshold. They indicated that it was ruining the livelihoods of their members. If that is not an indictment of a Labor government policy, I do not know what is. Further, when I heard about the particular union’s not wishing to support the Rudd Labor government’s position, I asked them if they had approached the minister or the Prime Minister on this particular issue. Their response was: ‘Yes, we have. We have written to the Prime Minister and the minister.’ I asked what the response had been, and a very embarrassed executive member from the Electrical Trades Union in Victoria said, ‘We have not received one.’ They had not received a response in about three months. I thought that was a very poor way to treat a union that would have had viable and valuable input into the Prime Minister’s and minister’s decision.

I think Australians have now started to indicate that they are very disappointed with this by their not taking up the challenge of solar panels. Those people that are taking up solar panels are taking up ones with a low kilowatt input. They cannot afford to take up higher kilowatt units because of the rebate, and the rebate just will not cover the higher units. They are buying smaller units, which is not as cost-effective. The installation costs are the same for a small unit, which has less ability to assist a family home and a family budget. I know my time to speak in this debate is coming to a close. I just wish that the Prime Minister would change his mind.

Debate interrupted.

Mark Bishop (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It being 6 pm, the Senate will proceed to the consideration of government documents.