Minority report - Senator John Woodley
Senator John Woodley - Australian Democrats
The
Australian Democrats believe that the Committee's Report provides a good
outline of the many issues involved in the Eastlink proposal and endorse the
Committee's findings. In particular, the Committee's findings and
recommendations on the social impacts, the weight of public concern about Eastlink,
the unsatisfactory public consultation and Environmental Impact Assessment
processes, and the need to ensure adequate and accurate compensation to those effected
should be noted.
Additional
Recommendation Given the enormous amount of money which will be expended on Eastlink, the Democrats believe the
governments involved should reconsider their commitment to the proposal until
such time as the concerns outlined in this Report and in these additional
comments have been adequately investigated. Such investigations must be open to
public input and scrutiny.
Broader
environmental consequences
The
Democrats believe the evidence provided to the Inquiry shows
- a
continuing lack of support by governments or the electricity industry for
encouraging the reduction of electricity consumption throughout the community, and
- an
ongoing failure to provide serious support or encouragement to alternative
energy options, and
- little
or no consideration given to the potential impact of Eastlink on greenhouse gas
emissions.
The
ACF and Greenpeace submission found that Eastlink is highly unlikely to satisfy
the Qld Government's resource acquisition criteria. In comparison with the
alternatives modelled, Eastlink is the least likely to result in Greenhouse gas
savings. There are a number of alternatives which have a higher probability of
providing C02 savings at lower cost than Eastlink.
The
question of impact on greenhouse gas emissions hinges on whether Eastlink would
mean the ongoing use of coal fired power stations at the expense of options
that would mean lower greenhouse emissions.
Health
impacts
The
Democrats also believe the evidence provided to the Inquiry, particularly by Dr Richard Lubin, on the potential health effects of
exposure to Electro-Magnetic Fields was scientific and credible. As a
minimum, electricity authorities should abandon their current approach of
trying to discount or ridicule such evidence. All future projects which involve
the potential of public exposure to EMF should take the possible health impacts
into consideration.
The
Competitive Energy Market
Changes
within the market system were seen as necessary to bringing changes to the electricity
industry. The assumption that large centralised power stations and long
distance transmission will continue as the dominant technology were seen as
underlying Eastlink. It needs to be emphasised that Eastlink is seen by many
submissions as not being necessary for effective trading in the competitive
energy market.
"Eastlink
highlights the changed world of the energy industry. Eastlink and the NGMC are
seen as commodity vendors trying to sell more electricity as opposed to the
developing of an energy services Market (Lockyer against Eastlink
submission)
"The majority of
customer benefits resulting from participation in the competitive energy market
will occur without physical interconnection." "Investment in energy
efficiency as an alternative to Eastlink would increase customer choice and
could be the beginning of a competitive market in Queensland that treated
demand and supply side investments as interchangeable" (GreenpeacelACF)
The ongoing failure of governments and
electricity authorities to seriously consider or promote reduction in energy
consumption levels throughout the community, or to adequately encourage
alternative energy production must be acknowledged.
An investment of public monies of the
magnitude which Eastlink requires needs to be justified at least against the
next best option. The Democrats believe that the power authorities involved
should make available to the public a more detailed cost/benefit analysis of Eastlink-
and alternatives to Eastlink.
The scope for benefits from the
interconnection of the electricity grids between Queensland and NSW has long been advocated by the
electricity industry, Whilst the industry may well benefit, it is less clear
how much economic or environmental benefit there is for the wider community
As the submission from Greenpeace and
ACI` outlined, the majority of customer benefits resulting from participation
in the competitive electricity market will occur without physical
interconnection. (Greeripeace/ACF p 2 Para 4)
Statements at a Committee hearing by
representatives from the Federal Department of Primary Industries and Energy
clearly illustrated that Eastlink is part of the ongoing implementation of the
National Competition Policy. The Democrats' concerns about the negative social
consequences, particularly for people in rural areas, of the Hilmer reforms
embodied in the Competition Policy have been voiced repeatedly in the Senate
and elsewhere. The widespread community concerns about Eastlink are just one
more demonstration of the fact that there is the potential for a very big
downside to Ifilmer and the National Competition Policy.
Conclusion
Until
there is a serious commitment to action in these areas, the community will
continue to face many more Eastlinks in the future, with an ongoing repetition
of the problems that have been identified in this Report.
Senator
John Woodley, Australian Democrats
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