Wednesday, 30 October 2019

Renewable Energy (Jobs and Investment) Amendment Bill 2019

Council’s amendments

Message from Council relating to following amendments considered:

1. Clause 1, after line 4 insert—

“(aa) to provide that renewable energy sources include hydro energy; and”.

2. Insert the following New Clause to follow clause 2—

‘2A Definitions

In section 3 of the Renewable Energy (Jobs and Investment) Act 2017, after paragraph (b) of the definition of renewable energy source insert—

“(ba) hydro;”.’.

Ms D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park—Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Solar Homes) (10:42): I move:

That the amendments be agreed to.

These amendments add hydro-electricity as one of the defined sources of renewable energy in the Renewable Energy (Jobs and Investment) Act 2017. This reflects current practice, as hydro-electricity is currently included in the Victorian renewable energy target.

I am absolutely delighted for this bill to come to the lower house in its current form, because this is a seminal time in our national debate about where we need to go in terms of our future energy resources. I am absolutely delighted that our government is at the forefront nationally on producing and facilitating more investment in renewable energy, because we know that renewable energy is the fastest, easiest to build and cheapest form of new energy supply. That is the case globally. Our government is not just of course about increasing energy supply as the older generators are reaching their end of life; we are doing this because we know that there are significant jobs that can come out of strong government ambition and legislation such as what we have got here in the Parliament today.

Through our renewable energy target of 50 per cent by 2030 we will be creating more than 24 000 new jobs for Victorians. Most of those will be in regional Victoria, and that is an absolute boon to many local economies across the state. We are already starting to see the benefits of our existing renewable energy targets of 25 per cent by 2020 and 40 per cent by 2025. Our strong ambition is backed up by legislation and backed up by the largest reverse auction that has been undertaken thus far in this country, with more than 900 megawatts of renewable energy coming into our system, plus there is all of the investment that is coming into Victoria because we have a government that stands up for Victorians, that stands up for new energy supply and that understands that there are great jobs that can come out of this by building up the local supply chain and of course by getting clean energy and reducing our carbon emissions. And of course we know that this reduces power prices.

So we are absolutely delighted as a government to see this bill come back into the Assembly for a final vote. It is only a Labor government that can achieve what is a nation-leading renewable energy agenda. We are doing that with strong commitments and programs that underpin getting more energy supply into our system, leading to lower prices, and we are supporting clean renewable energy, which of course reduces our carbon emissions. I am very supportive of this, and I certainly wish it well in its passage through this chamber.

Motion agreed to.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: A message will now be sent to the Legislative Council informing them of the house’s decision.