Electricity Supply Amendment Bill 2005
Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES: On behalf of the Christian Democratic Party I speak to the Electricity Supply Amendment Bill, the purpose of which is to amend the Electricity Supply Act 1995 in order to cater for initiatives relating to greenhouse policy, electricity market reform, peak demand reductions and safety measures in relation to electricity supply. I commend the initiatives contained in the bill, and the Christian Democratic Party supports the bill. Electricity supply is one of the staple needs of our community. It is hard to envisage how our lives could be run without the ability to use electricity to resource our activities. We cannot underestimate the value of electricity to today’s modern society.
At the same time, however, some controls on the use and offsets against the use of electricity must be put in place in order to reduce greenhouse pollution arising from the creation of electricity. Currently, electricity generation accounts for about 40 per cent of New South Wales greenhouse gas emissions. The bill contains a number of salient points, for example, when an electricity trader becomes insolvent. This is a new situation. Once we had government instrumentalities providing us with all of our electricity and we would not have considered the Government becoming insolvent. But these days, with privatisation, it is possible for a trader to be left high and dry without electricity to accomplish their day-to-day activities.