Adjournment
Solar energy
Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (19:00): (1191) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Energy and Resources, who is here at the table tonight, and the action I seek is for the minister to address the issue, which I understand is at a national level, whereby farmers or indeed any businesses who have a solar installation are unable to use the energy across different titles. This is an issue that has been brought to my attention by a couple of farmers in my electorate who have installed solar – for example, the one I spoke with last week has solar panels on the dairy. They use it during the day when milking, when they can, but would like to be able to use it across the rest of the farm. As most farmers have multiple titles these days, it is a restriction on being able to use that renewable energy. My colleague the member for Gippsland East raised this with the minister a couple of years ago, and I understand the issue is tied up with rules that are set nationally by the various states and the Commonwealth. This is an issue that is restricting the ability of farmers and, I suspect, other businesses – commercial operations and certainly residential – because I understand the issue is that if you are sharing power across titles you are effectively creating a microgrid. What I would like to see the government do is actually address the issue and ensure that farmers and anyone else who would like to do so in a single farm enterprise can actually share the solar energy that they create across those titles for the benefit of their business but also for the benefit of the entire community and the environment. If we are paying and subsidising to establish renewable energy, it would make sense that it could be properly used and used as efficiently as possible. I would ask the minister to address this issue and ensure that we are utilising solar energy as much as we can.