Reward Aussies who generate power: MPs

news.brisbanetimes.com.au
August 18, 2009

The Greens and independent MP Rob Oakeshott are urging the federal government to reward ordinary Australians who generate their own electricity and more to spare. Mr Oakeshott introduced a bill in parliament on Tuesday, proposing the introduction of feed-in tariffs - payments for electricity generated from renewable sources and fed back to the main grid.

It would cover everything from a householder installing rooftop solar panels to a mid-sized developer building a solar thermal power plant. It was time ordinary Australians were directly involved in the climate change battle, rather than just politicians and business groups, Mr Oakeshott said. "Here is an opportunity to engage people in real change and a real move to a new economy," he told parliament. "People want to be engaged and now is certainly the time to do it."

Mr Oakeshott's proposal complements a similar bill being put forward to the upper house by Senator Christine Milne from the Greens, who have come together to call for a national feed-in tariffs system. Mr Oakeshott noted similar schemes overseas had boosted the use of renewable energy, most successfully in Germany, where a major boost in renewable energy was directly attributed to feed-in tariffs.

The plan would reward electricity generated from sources such as wind, solar and geo-thermal. "If people do better in their own houses, they benefit," Mr Oakeshott said of the legislation. "At the moment what we're seeing in this climate change debate is a welfare system being established for the top end of town - that frustrates people, it disengages people."

Individual states and territories have all looked at implementing feed-in tariffs, which is being looked at by the Council of Australian Governments, Mr Oakeshott said. A nationally consistent system would streamline the process. feed-in tariffs were successful in Spain and parts of North America and would undoubtedly contribute to Australia's expected renewable energy target of 20 per cent by 2020, Senator Milne added. She said it was time for the government to show real leadership and allow everyone an opportunity to contribute.