18547 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Thursday 22 October 2009 __________ The Speaker (The Hon. George Richard Torbay) took the chair at 10.00 a.m. The Speaker read the Prayer and acknowledgement of country. OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN Report The Speaker announced the receipt, pursuant to section 31AA of the Ombudsman Act 1974, of the report of the NSW Ombudsman for the year ended 30 June 2009. Ordered to be printed. BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE Notices of Motions General Business Notices of Motions (General Notices) given. CROWN LANDS AMENDMENT (SPECIAL PURPOSE LEASES) BILL 2009 Agreement in Principle Debate resumed from 24 September 2009. Mr MIKE BAIRD (Manly) [10.09 a.m.]: I lead for the Opposition on the Crown Lands Amendment (Special Purpose Leases) Bill. I acknowledge in the gallery a good friend of mine, Ben Hoskins. I thank him for the contribution he made to the 2007 State election campaign. Ben is a good young man and I appreciate the help he provided. The stated object of the bill is to simplify land acquisition for renewable energy purposes to provide an alternative to compulsory acquisition through negotiated lease arrangements. If that is the premise of the legislation, the Opposition will support it. However, we seek assurances from the Government and the Parliamentary Secretary that the legislation will not be used to circumvent due process with regard to environmental planning and assessment. We strongly support initiatives to boost sources of renewable energy in New South Wales. Indeed, New South Wales has been lagging behind other States for too long. However, we want to ensure that this bill is not used as a mechanism to facilitate land acquisition that bypasses proper environmental and planning requirements. We take it on good faith that this is not the intention of the bill, but I note in the agreement in principle speech that the Parliamentary Secretary said the Department of Planning "will continue to play a role". They are broad words and we seek specific confirmation that the processes will remain unchanged—that is, that this bill is solely about negotiating leases rather than compulsorily acquiring land in relation to this process. If that is the case, we remain supportive. The object of the Crown Lands Amendment (Special Purpose Leases) Bill 2009 is to amend the Crown Lands Act 1989 to extend provisions permitting special purpose leases from the Western Division of New South Wales to the Eastern and Central Division to facilitate new renewable energy development such as small-scale wind farms. Clause 3 will allow the Minister for Lands to grant a second lease called a special purpose lease for a period of up to 100 years over a parcel of land within the boundaries of the pre-existing lease in the Eastern and Central Division of New South Wales. The special purpose lease could be granted only with the consent of the lessee and would run simultaneously with the pre-existing lease. The amendments will allow the State to enter into a direct lease without the need for the State to compulsorily acquire the land in question, or to reduce the tenure connection to pre-existing tenants to their leasehold land. 18548 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 22 October 2009 The special purpose lease would be granted only for an approved purpose, being the construction and operation of facilities for the harnessing of energy from any source, including the sun or wind, and its conversion into electrical energy. Existing leaseholders in the Eastern and Central Division of New South Wales, such as graziers or farmers, will be able to negotiate for adequate compensation in return for their consent, while retaining the right to repossess the land once the special purpose lease expires. The Coalition fully supports any initiatives that boost renewable energy supply in New South Wales. At the moment about 6 per cent of the total energy usage in New South Wales is provided from renewable energy sources, according to figures released last year. That is far less than States such as Queensland and Tasmania. Indeed, if we remove the Snowy Hydro, New South Wales is languishing quite significantly at about 1 per cent of total energy usage from renewable sources. It is time we got serious about renewable energy, which is one of the reasons we have supported initiatives such as gross feed-in tariffs, as an example. Certainly, we need to facilitate alternative energy usage. If this bill helps to facilitate that, we will be supportive. According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, New South Wales uses the least amount of natural gas while Western Australia and Victoria are streets ahead. On many renewable energy fronts New South Wales continues to lag behind the rest of the country. Mr Frank Sartor: We have less in reserves. Mr MIKE BAIRD: The former Minister for Planning says we have less in reserves. The truth is that the coal seam methane reserves are estimated to be in excess of those in Queensland. The member for Burrinjuck referred to concerns affecting her electorate and sought further assurances. She said that the bill lacks clarity in the definition of a small-scale wind farm. I ask the Minister and the Parliamentary Secretary to outline what the Government intends to classify as a small-scale wind farm. The Coalition seeks assurances that the next step in this process will not be coastal wind farms and all their associated processes. We are concerned about environmental assessment and planning. Section 44E of the Crown Lands Act 1989 states that the minimum distance of a special purpose lease from a dwelling must be more than 200 metres. The usually accepted minimum setback distance for wind turbines from dwellings is 800 metres. I understand that even from that distance noise can cause disturbance. I refer to the Gullen Range wind farm in the upper Lachlan shire of New South Wales, for example. If the council were the planning authority for this wind farm, its development control plan would have insisted on a buffer zone of two kilometres, or 15 times the tip height of the turbine used, whichever is greater. We seek clarity on behalf of leaseholders of Crown land in the Eastern and Central Division of New South Wales as to the minimum distance that will apply between special purpose leases and existing dwellings in relation to this bill. Those real concerns are at the forefront, particularly for local members such as the member for Burrinjuck. Further to this, in the case of the Gullen Range wind farm, the approval required only above-ground structures be removed on decommissioning. However, each structure has around 20 metres of concrete foundations below ground that could be a potential source of contamination if not removed. We seek assurances that the bill will not allow this to occur on Crown land. Broadly, we support the bill and its intent as a mechanism to enable the Government to charge fair rent for the use of Crown land for renewable energy production. We also support it as a mechanism to simplify land acquisition or the use of land rather than through compulsory acquisition, and the ability to sublease. Certainly, that makes sense if it remains the intent of the bill. We seek clarity on the concerns we have raised and we seek assurances that the bill will not be used to circumvent the proper environmental and planning process. That is our primary concern with the bill. As the bill is presented in good faith, we support its tenets. Mr FRANK TERENZINI (Maitland) [10.15 a.m.]: I thank the member for Manly for his contribution. He can rest assured that this side of the House always acts in good faith in everything it does. Mr Anthony Roberts: How long have you been here? Mr FRANK TERENZINI: Long enough to know that is the case. I have pleasure in supporting the Crown Lands Amendment (Special Purpose Leases) Bill 2009. The object of the bill is to amend the Crown Lands Act 1989 to extend the provisions relating to the granting of special purpose leases to land within the Eastern and Central Division of New South Wales. In my short contribution I shall place some important matters on the record in this debate. Under the renewable energy precincts proposal six wind renewable energy 22 October 2009 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 18549 precincts will be established over 46 local government areas in the New England tablelands, the Upper Hunter, the central tablelands, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory border areas, the South Coast and the Cooma-Monaro area. A precinct advisory committee in each area will be established to facilitate community input. Of course, committees will be made up of people from local councils and their relevant communities. The committees will implement the Government's policy to reduce the threshold for critical infrastructure under part 3A from 250 megawatts to 30 megawatts for wind farms. As a stimulus measure, critical infrastructure fees will be waived and development application fees halved for major renewable energy projects greater than 30 megawatts. Modelling by the Commonwealth Treasury forecasts that around 70 per cent of the national renewable energy target will be met through wind power. It is the Rees Government's highest reform priority to achieve this target. The mechanism for enabling two leases to run in parallel is the special purpose lease. It is particularly suited to wind power developments where, following initial construction, wind turbines and grazing can function together. This is one of the great things about this initiative. This amendment means many land options are available to sustainable power developers.