Concerns expressed by Local Government about the financial impact of their landfill facilities under the new Clean Energy legislation are being pursued by the Federal Member for New England Tony Windsor.
Mr Windsor had a series of meetings in Parliament last week on the issues relating to local government and the accounting of the emissions from landfills; and those discussions will continue this week.
“Local government has various options in the area of converting waste streams into renewable energy as well as into income streams through the generation of tradeable credits,” he said.
“Local government is also being offered subsidies into lower energy requirement lighting sources.
“At a variety of levels, significant discussions are occurring between local government and the Commonwealth Government, however, I am aware that not all local governments are engaged equally, and crucially, the elected councillors currently feel somewhat under-informed.
“Late last year the Parliamentary Secretary Mark Dreyfus MP attended a meeting of the Namoi Councils to begin discussions on these issues.
“Mr Mark Dreyfus has offered to return to further discuss the responsibilities and opportunities for local government if there is a need in the New England area.
“I believe it’s time to take Mr Dreyfus up on that offer,” Mr Windsor said.
Mr Windsor will be writing to local government in the New England North West this week proposing a meeting with senior Commonwealth staff, where the following information will be discussed;
nPrecise information on any landfill in the New England electorate that will be required to account for landfill emissions. Mr Windsor understands that this will only apply to Tamworth Regional Council.
nPrecise information on the opportunities for all local government landfill operators to identify potential emissions profiles from pre-July 2012 landfill and a probable income available under the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) from these pre-July 2012 landfills. These landfills have as much as 40 years with an income stream available to every local government in the electorate.
nIdentification of funding programs to allow local government to be funded to reduce its energy requirements particularly through lower energy requirement lighting.
nIdentification of funding programs that will assist local government in providing infrastructure at landfills to harvest emissions and turn these into income sources, either through the generation of electricity or the creation of carbon credits.
nIdentification of the compensation to be made available to individual residents and ratepayers through the tax system that will ensure the reform including local government rate rises, is affordable to ratepayers and residents.
Mr Windsor said placing a price on carbon is a fundamental reform that runs outside of the three- or four-year electoral cycle.
The Independent MP says his role on the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee (MPCCC) was to bring a practical reality check into a process – something that should work on the ground – that could have failed by placing too high a financial cost on individual Australians.
“Securing the future of the reform by not placing unreasonable financial constraints on individual Australians led me to having transport fuel removed from the equation, as well as agriculture, due to the uncertainty of the carbon accounting for that sector,” he said.
“The legislation is unashamedly aimed at driving a structural shift in our economy away from fossil fuels over time.
“The vision of the reform includes shifting away from large centralised sources of energy to a future of harvesting clean energy sources and, just as importantly, harvesting waste streams as energy sources.
“This will create investment opportunities and job opportunities that are genuinely accessible to regional Australians.
“The reform is a transition that will occur over time, with significant compensation measures to ensure people are able to commit fully to this reform and obviously this commitment includes financial affordability.
“My work in the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee was about ensuring the changes benefit regional people and are financially affordable and financially beneficial to regional people over the long term,” Mr Windsor said.
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