September 27th, 2007 by Kris
Many householders who went to the huge expense of installing solar panels will welcome the State Government’s decision to increase the rate paid for their electricity from 18 cents to 44 cents per kilowatt. But the legislation guarantees this rate only for five years.
While supporting the increase, I called for these payments to be guaranteed for 20 years. This would encourage households to see installing solar panels as a profit-making enterprise.
I also would like to see the solar ‘feed-in’ rate extended to include commercial premises. At the moment the legislation is limited to domestic customers only.
Sadly, we again have legislation that fails to take a bolder approach to encouraging renewable energy investment.
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September 26th, 2007 by Kris
Today the State Labor Government rushed through legislation to help the Federal Government deprive young voters and others of the right to vote at the forthcoming election. This is despite the ALP campaigning to abolish the new law if elected.
The State Government introduced the legislation to close a loophole in John Howard’s law that calls for voting rolls to close when the Federal election is called, rather than giving voters a week to register. The loophole would have meant rolls for the Senate closed a week later than the House of Representatives.
At the last Federal election, 423,000 changes were added to the rolls in the week after the election was called.
Why is the Rann Government an accomplice to this sneaky new law?
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September 21st, 2007 by Kris
The facts don’t support Adelaide’s Sunday Mail claim that ‘Asian migrants are transforming the face of South Australia’. The 2006 New Census figures again show the bulk of migrants to South Australia come from the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Yet the article concentrated on Asian immigration. A statistic showing almost 60,000 Britons settling in Adelaide last year, compared to 3,640 Chinese, prompted a headline screeching ‘Asian migrants spearhead SA settler boom’. Is this done to play on fears that ‘white Australia’ is being ‘swamped’?
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September 19th, 2007 by Kris
At the first public meeting called by the Parliamentary Committee set up to look at the proposed $1.5 billion Penola pulp mill, it was obvious that the real issue in the South East was how to share the most precious natural resource – water.
This is not to say that the Committee was ignoring any concerns about environmental damage from the mill. The law still required the development to meet world-class standards set by the Environmental Protection Authority. It is the difference with the disastrous proposal to build a pulp mill in Tasmanian’s Tamar Valley.
At that first public meeting it was made clear to me by local farmers and wine growers that the legislation gave a free kick to forestry in terms of water allocation.
Read the rest of this entry »
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September 18th, 2007 by Kris
The State Government proposes spending up to $1 billion to increase the capacity of Mount Bold Reservoir in the Adelaide Hills. What’s the point if we don’t get enough Murray River water to fill it! What we really need to do is harvest more rainwater. If the $1 billion were divided among the 400,000 households of Adelaide this equates to $2,500 per household. This would pay for a 13,500 litre rainwater tank plumbed to the house or other plumbing efficiency measures. If all 400,000 houses had a 13,500 tank the total storage capacity would be 6,750 mega-litres. This is equivalent to 12 per cent of Mount Bold Reservoir’s current capacity of 46,000 mega litres. Increased rainwater harvesting will reduce reservoir demand as well as utilise peak stormwater flows. The Government should massively increase rainwater tank subsidies. This would have the added advantage of stimulating the local economy and creating more jobs.
Posted in The Big Picture, State Issues | 2 Comments »
September 13th, 2007 by Kris
Today I introduced legislation to Parliament for an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) with the powers to fully investigate corruption in public life.
Initially I was sceptical of the need for an ICAC in South Australia, but recently we have seen a number of irregularities in public life. It is enough to make me think an independent commission against corruption is warranted.
Setting up such a commission will help to dispel any clouds of suspicion over conflict of interests, misappropriation of government funds, and any other accusations of corruption that hit the headlines from time to time.
An ICAC has proved effective in uncovering corruption in NSW, WA and Queensland. There’s no reason why it wouldn’t be successful here.
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September 12th, 2007 by Kris
In Parliament today I called for an inquiry to investigate the storing and moving of waste from increased uranium mining in South Australia. The expansion of uranium mining at Olympic Dam will mean some 10 million tonnes of toxic waste per year. We need to ensure that our current practices of storing and moving this waste are world’s best practice. That is why proposed that Parliament establish a Select Committee to investigate our current waste management and disposal practices.
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September 11th, 2007 by Kris
In his Ministerial Statement to Parliament today, the Premier Mike Rann said water prices will go up to pay the $2.5billion needed for a desalination unit and doubling the capacity of Mt Bold Reservoir. What is missing from this water ‘fix’ is a progressive water pricing system.
The Premier should be instructing SA Water to get to work on a water pricing system that rewards those who conserve water and sends a hefty bill to those who choose to have 20-minute showers or vast lush lawns.
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