Legislative Council Tuesday, 16 June 2009 THE PRESIDENT (Hon Barry House) took the chair at 3.30 pm, and read prayers. ENERGY CONSUMPTION — ADVANCED METER TRIAL Statement by Minister for Energy HON PETER COLLIER (North Metropolitan — Minister for Energy) [3.32 pm]: I am pleased to inform the house that on Sunday I launched a trial for advanced meters, which aims to highlight how householders can change their energy consumption behaviour and ultimately reduce the amount they spend on electricity. This is a 12-month trial conducted by Synergy and will involve approximately 500 households throughout a range of Perth suburbs that will be invited to take part. Customers will receive an in-home display device that provides detailed information about their electricity use and costs at any given moment well before the arrival of their next bill. Also, they will have access to a secure interactive website that is updated daily with actual consumption information, giving customers the opportunity to set and track consumption goals while also allowing them to understand consumption patterns of households of similar size and demographics. In addition, they will receive SMS and email notifications if they are heading off track with electricity consumption. The meters will provide peak and off-peak pricing to encourage customers to change their consumption habits and divert electricity use to cheaper, off-peak times, while also educating them about the costs of running appliances. This is an exciting initiative and is the first time such a comprehensive trial has been conducted in Australia by an energy retailer to encourage behavioural change. It provides householders with a visible signal of the electricity they are using, and often wasting, and how much it is costing at any point in time. Householders will have the ability to constantly monitor their energy consumption and thereby change their behaviour to more efficient electricity usage. This will be an opportunity to empower Western Australian householders to take control of their own energy use and to develop long-term positive behavioural changes in their electricity consumption habits. The trial will literally assist customers to reduce their energy use and shift consumption times, potentially saving the average household between 10 and 25 per cent off its electricity bill. To put this into perspective, an overall reduction of five per cent in electricity is equivalent to taking 33 000 cars off the road. Initial results are expected to be released after next summer’s peak, and future trials will be considered after customer behaviour and feedback are assessed. If the concept proves successful, it could be rolled out to more households and drive customer behaviour to substantially reduce electricity use and shift load. This will have a positive impact on the state’s investment requirements in generation and networks, reduce its carbon exposure and, importantly, inform and educate customers on their electricity use. Consideration of the statement made an order of the day for the next sitting, on motion by Hon Ed Dermer. MINISTERIAL COUNCIL FOR TERTIARY EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT Statement by Minister for Training HON PETER COLLIER (North Metropolitan — Minister for Training) [3.35 pm]: On Friday, 12 June 2009, I attended the Ministerial Council for Vocational and Technical Education meeting in Hobart. The meeting marked the closure of the council. Ministers committed to work together in the new Ministerial Council for Tertiary Education and Employment. This new ministerial council, MCTEE, will have responsibility for higher education; vocational education and training; non-school international education; adult and community education; the Australian qualifications framework, or AQF; employment; and youth policy relating to participation in tertiary education, work and workforce productivity. My cabinet colleague Minister Constable will join me on MCTEE. At this critical time for the vocational education and training system, I look forward to Western Australia’s continued influential and positive contribution to the decisions and direction of MCTEE. My recent launch of “Training WA: Planning for the future 2009-2018” places Western Australia in a prime position. Much of the planning, direction and strategy that is now required at this transitional point in the national vocational education and training system has been undertaken in Western Australia. My distribution at the meeting of the “Training WA” report to other state and territory ministers was well received, and the forward action plan for the work of MCTEE’s senior officials is closely aligned to the “Training WA” report. I am also pleased to report that following on from Western Australian representation, the ministerial council accepted that the various targets that have been and are being agreed to by the Council of Australian Governments are not mutually exclusive and that the changed economic conditions and state differences need to be taken into account; that is, the targets for productivity places, youth and retrenched workers all impact on each other. Recognition of these facts will now allow for all states and territories to negotiate greater flexibility 4970 [COUNCIL - Tuesday, 16 June 2009] in program delivery to meet the diverse needs of our specific economic situation, and industry and student needs. In addition, COAG recently endorsed in-principle support for a national regulatory body to oversee the registration of providers and accreditation of VET qualifications and courses. There has been much debate about the model that should be adopted; in fact, there was a recommendation for MCVTE to endorse a preferred model that absorbed the functions of the state and territory regulatory authorities. Again, Western Australia successfully gained the support of other state colleagues who accepted our reasoning that the model being presented was just one model and that it was critical that a number of models, including those suggested by state and territory governments, be considered. This motion was formally accepted and a COAG working group will now report back to MCTEE following its consideration of a range of models. Consideration of the statement made an order of the day for the next sitting, on motion by Hon Ed Dermer. PAPERS TABLED Papers were tabled and ordered to lie upon the table of the house. CITY OF JOONDALUP CATS LOCAL LAW 2008 — DISALLOWANCE Notice of Motion Hon Robin Chapple gave notice that at the next sitting of the house he would move — That the City of Joondalup Cats Local Law 2008, published in the Government Gazette on 2 April 2009 and tabled in the Legislative Council on 8 April 2009 under the Local Government Act 1995, be and is hereby disallowed. BARNETT GOVERNMENT — APPOINTMENTS Urgency Motion THE PRESIDENT (Hon Barry House): I have received the following letter — Dear Mr President Pursuant to Standing Order 72, I hereby give notice that at today’s sitting I intend to move; That the Council consider as a matter of urgency, its grave concern at the pattern of appointments made by the Barnett government which demonstrate a disregard for proper process and transparency. Yours sincerely Hon Sue Ellery MLC The member will require the support of four members in order to move the motion. [At least four members rose in their places.] HON SUE ELLERY (South Metropolitan — Leader of the Opposition) [3.42 pm]: I move the motion standing in my name, and I do so because a very unfortunate pattern is emerging in the actions of the Barnett government. When this government took office, the Premier made, I think, very positive statements about his intention to lead a government of integrity, and his intention that this government would hold in high regard the need for transparency and the application of due process. I have moved this urgency motion because I am concerned that what we are seeing, through a series of appointments—the details of one of which emerged as recently as this morning—is a scant regard to due process and transparency. A couple of issues need to be looked into, the first being the appointments of people who have clear political links to the government of the day. By itself, that is not problematic, because governments are elected with policy mandates and with policy agendas, and they are entitled to employ expertise for special projects from time to time, and to employ people who they know will execute the policy mandate and the policy agenda they were elected to deliver. Indeed, in their ministerial offices, when it comes to the appointment of policy advisers and people who liaise between the executive—that is, the ministers—and the public sector in carrying out the functions and the policies that the government was elected to do, it is reasonable that ministers should be confident that those policy agendas will be pursued according to the mandate they put at the time of the election. By itself, that is not a problem, and it is reasonable that governments should do that to assist them to deliver whatever their policy agendas might be. But I think there are two factors that need to be clearly demonstrated have taken place when it comes to some of those appointments. Appointments that are outside the minister’s office that go to delivery of the policy, I think, need to be done in a way that demonstrate, firstly, that the process was transparent; and, secondly, that any potential perceived or real conflict of interest is declared and eliminated. If those two processes cannot be demonstrated to have taken place in the appointing of people to deliver a policy agenda, then the risk of public [COUNCIL - Tuesday, 16 June 2009] 4971 suspicion will be raised, and I think that the pattern that has emerged over the past eight months or nine months has raised that suspicion. The pattern started at the formation of the government and has continued until as recently as this morning, with revelations about a new appointment.