Thursday, 20 September 2018

 Mr EDBROOKE (Frankston) (11:49): As I was saying before question time, the review and the response which we see in this bill make some very, very important changes to the Essential Services Commission (ESC), including replacing the current appeals panel which was established under the act with a capacity for appeals to be referred to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. It also enables the minister to nominate a person to act as a chairperson where there is a vacancy or the chairperson is in fact absent, and it clarifies that the Essential Services Commission has the function of actually reporting on the market structure and performance of regulated industries if so required under enabling legislation.

The bill also, quite wisely in my mind, provides for a further review of the act to be completed some years hence. There are a range of technical statute law revision amendments to the act as well. I think this would be a good stage right now to reflect on what the ESC actually does. I think there has been some confusion on the opposition benches —

Mr Watt interjected.

Mr EDBROOKE: We can tell from the interjections that there is some confusion there about what the ESC actually does. I would like to focus in my contribution —

Mr Watt interjected.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Ms Spence): Member for Burwood, there is no need to interject across the chamber.

Mr EDBROOKE: If we can get past the interruption from the member for Burwood, I would like to focus some of my contribution on the role that the ESC plays in monitoring our energy services.

The Andrews Labor government of course understands that Victoria is growing at a huge rate, roughly 140 000 people per year, that this in turn places a greater demand on all of our infrastructure and services and that there is a greater need to build more roads, more schools and better health services and of course to continue to upgrade the infrastructure that services our local communities. I would say that nothing at this stage is more important than energy for the people of Victoria. It is a subject people talk about quite often. It is a hot topic.

This government understands that whether it be gas, water or electricity, paying the bills for these services is often very challenging for some people in our communities, and I know that from talking to my constituents in Frankston. Of course that is why we are working so hard to increase supply, with the single biggest investment in renewable energy in the state’s history. These are genuinely exciting announcements, and people in my community are very, very excited about them. The announcements over the last few months regarding solar and wind energy and hot-water units have been received with open arms in my community.

I would like to say, though, that one thing my community found quite amusing — and I would say some Liberal Party members that I know in my community found this very concerning — was that the shadow environment minister was down in Frankston when he had his little sojourn from Parliament a few weeks ago and he was campaigning down there on the cost of energy and what this government is apparently doing so wrong, even though we are making these record-breaking announcements. He was down there with no alternative. He was not telling them what the opposition would do in government. And some of these people actually came to me and asked, ‘Does it worry you that you have a shadow minister coming down’ —

Mr Watt: Is he shadow minister for environment?

Mr EDBROOKE: energy — ‘into your seat and going around telling people all these stories but he’s actually bringing nothing to the table?’. My response, I think, was quite measured. I just said, ‘Well, it does not surprise me. If you want to get out there and campaign like a 19-year-old, that is fine, but if you want to actually do your job, get back to your desk and make some actual policy on the renewable industry, which is blossoming and providing cheap energy, that would be fine too’. These people who are Liberal members in my community of Frankston walked away shaking their heads.

Mr Watt interjected.

Mr EDBROOKE: They are so disillusioned by you lot that they are actually thinking of quitting the party. So just take that into consideration. They do not know who that guy is, member for Burwood.

Back on the bill, as members before me have said —

Mr Clark: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, the honourable member has strayed a long way from the subject matter of the bill and is proceeding to debate matters and make imputations. I ask you to bring him back to debating the bill.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Ms Spence): I ask the member to come back to the bill, but I also ask the member for Burwood to stop interjecting across the chamber. He might not be interested in listening, but I am.

Mr EDBROOKE: In my electorate of Frankston we have the Environment Victoria #Repower campaign happening just a few doors up from my office. We speak regularly about some of the responsibilities that the ESC would be looking after. They had an opening recently, and it was really interesting to note that the only political party that was not represented at that opening, which was full of community members, was the Liberal Party. They are absolutely dormant, vacant and hopeless in this space, and it is not just at the state level. We know that at the federal level they are fighting amongst themselves. There is now no national energy policy. At the moment I am seeing pictures of the Prime Minister in a truck looking like he is excited about driving the truck when he probably should be at the table at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), a meeting of which they just cancelled, because it is the forum and instrument to make sure that we can get national energy guarantees up across the states.

I think for my community it is a huge responsibility of this government to ensure that our communities can actually pay their bills and that they have on-demand power when they need it. The ESC is an independent regulator that promotes the long-term interests of the Victorian community and consumers with respect to the price of this energy and the quality and reliability of other essential services as well. They regulate Victoria’s energy, water and transport sectors and administer the rate capping system for the local government sector. On rate capping, I congratulate the minister, who is at the table, on that piece of legislation. That has gone down so well in my community of Frankston.

We did have a local journalist ask me a question the other day. There had been some statements from the local council complaining about the rate capping policy, and he asked, ‘Would you like to tell me something? Would you like to give me a line?’. I said, ‘Yes, sure. Let me think about it. I would say that if local councils, especially those like Frankston with the likes of $28 million surpluses, can’t afford the basic essential needs of their community, the essential services, then maybe they need to reprioritise what they do and how they spend their money and maybe they need to talk to some more community members about where they want that money spent’.

The ESC have a fair bit to do with that as well. But, as I said, they also regulate the Victorian energy efficiency target scheme, which reduces greenhouse emissions by making energy-efficient improvements in our community and affordable power for consumers.

In Frankston, which is on the beach, the community is very in tune with our environment. It is the best place in Victoria — and there are no arguments from those opposite. I can tell the member for Brighton that Frankston is the best place in Victoria. We know that our youth in particular are very vocal when it comes to ensuring that the representatives of government are looking at all the possible policy options to make sure that our globe is clean and it is green for their kids and their grandkids, and to make sure that people actually embrace the future, which is renewables. I commend this bill to the house.

 Ms WILLIAMS (Dandenong) (11:58): In the very short amount of time available to me I would like to speak in support of the Essential Services Commission (Governance, Procedural and Administrative Improvements) Amendment Bill 2018. As we have heard, the Essential Services Commission (ESC) is a vital body in the operation of essential services in Victoria. We know that they regulate Victoria’s energy, water and transport sectors, that they administer the rate capping system for the local government sector and regulate the Victorian energy efficiency target scheme — all incredibly important in the day-to-day lives of so many Victorians.

We have also heard from previous speakers that the Andrews government completed a review of the Essential Services Commission Act 2001 in December 2016, and the review and government response was tabled in Parliament on 7 March last year. That review concluded that the Essential Services Commission was working well as an economic regulator but found scope to clarify its role and to improve governance, procedural and administrative arrangements.

The bill before the house today proposes a number of changes, including replacing the appeals panel established under the act with a review jurisdiction conferred on VCAT. It enables the minister to nominate a person to act as acting chairperson in the absence of the chairperson or if there is a vacancy in the office. It also clarifies that the Essential Services Commission has the function of reporting on the market structure and performance of regulated industries if this is required under enabling legislation. It provides for a further review of the act to be completed by the end of 2026. The bill also includes a range of technical statute law revision amendments to the act. It is a sensible act, as we have heard. It strengthens the ESC, and I commend the bill to the house.

Business interrupted in accordance with resolution of house.