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Speaking on the National Environment Protection Council (Western Australia) Amendment Bill 2007 in the Western Australia Legislative Assembly on 9 September 2007, Liberals’ A.J. Simpson said that issues surrounding the environment must be looked at very hard. Wasteful building practices: Simpson said: “The thing that concerns me is that, in my electorate of Serpentine-Jarrahdale, there is large-scale construction of new houses both in the township and south of it. The place has turned into a large sandpit with the new houses being built. I get up in the morning and go for a walk through the new housing developments and am constantly amazed how much waste there is in the process of building a house. I do not think we have actually captured that process in legislation. Whenever governments look at placing any sort of restriction on the building process, there is always a backlash from builders saying that it will add to the cost of building. We need to change the way we think.

Culture change required: “An issue the minister raised a few months ago was the front lawns of new houses,” said Simpson. “I agree with what he was talking about. When I walk through a brand new subdivision, I see houses being built on blocks smaller than 600 square metres with front gardens the size of postage stamps. Instead of putting in gardens, the owners are growing front lawns that will have limited use. They look great, but we must wonder whether this is something else we need to consider. Like many other things, there is a need to change our culture, and ask ourselves why we do things. However, there is no way I would expect people to rip out their front lawns.

Energy-saving orientation: “Another problem with new houses is that few people put much thought into the solar orientation of their houses,” Simpson said. “If houses were designed with the living quarters facing north, a considerable amount of money could be saved on heating and cooling. However, because of the notion of so-called sustainability, which involves cramming houses onto 700 square metre blocks and trying to fit as many houses as possible into a given area, with minimal public open space so that developers can extract the maximum profit out of the land, that does not happen.

Sensible choices called for: “Another thing that amazes me,” commented Simpson, “is the number of houses that have black roofs and, on the outside, big three-and-a-half horsepower reverse-cycle air conditioners. This is something that a lot of local governments could look at. Any attempt to change is always met with a reaction. Some people will say that they have a right to choose to put black roofs on their houses. It is their choice, but in Australia’s hot and dry climate, black roofs absorb more heat.

Perceptions of quality: “Construction style is another issue,” said Simpson. “We seem to be hell-bent on double-brick houses, but it has been proven that it is possible to build just as well with brick veneer, or single brick with stud walls. However, people do not like to build houses like that because they are not seen as quality housing. It is all a perception thing. In the eastern states, that is all they build, and everyone accepts them. They say that it is not so much the house as the location.”

Reference: Legislative Assembly of Western Australia Hansard for Tuesday 4 September 2007; National Environment Protection Council (Western Australia) Amendment Bill 2007, Second Reading

The Senate Standing Committee on Economics was inquiring into the National Market Driven Energy Efficiency Target Bill 2007, reported The Australian (19/9/2007, p.2). Private Bill: This was a private Senator’s bill that proposed to amend the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 to introduce an energy efficiency trading scheme.

Report on October 22: The committee was to report on 22 October. The closing date for submissions was 21 September.

Reference: For further information visit: http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/economics_ctte/inquiries.htm

Or telephone (02) 6277 3540.

An amendment to delete part of a motion moved by Ray Halligan critical of Western Australia’s 5 Star Plus scheme was passed in the Legislative Council on 19 September 2007. Amendment lists demands: Halligan had moved: “That this house insists that, before the 5 Star Plus scheme is introduced as a regulatory regime in Western Australia, the government:

(a) listens to the housing industry in Western Australia;

(b) provides an audited cost-benefit analysis of the proposed regime;

(c) includes in that analysis the additional costs to taxpayers to administer the scheme;

(d) identifies other regimes that have been examined and why 5 Star Plus is preferred; and

(e) explains why it wishes to add to the financial burden already being experienced by first home buyers.

Final complaint deleted: Hon Paul Llewellyn moved an amendment to delete subclause (e) of the motion. On a division the amendment was carried by 13 votes to 12.

Reference: Legislative Council of Western Australia Hansard for Wednesday, 19/09/2007, Building sustainability Index – 5 Star Plus scheme, amendment to motion

Open interest contracts rose by 882 (2.3 per cent) to 39,063 in the week to Monday, 15 October after falling by 4081 to 38,181 the previous week, according to figures supplied in a media release by the d-cypha Trade/Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE). Equivalent to about 102.88 million MWh: Open interest contracts in the week to 15 October equated to about 102.88 million megawatt hours (MWh), up 2.20 million MWh (2.2 per cent) on the 100.67 million MWh the previous week.

Jump in futures contracts: Trading in futures contracts jumped by 760 (35.2 per cent) to 2922 after falling by 813 (27.3 per cent) to 2162 the previous week.

Composition of futures contracts: The futures contracts traded during the week comprised 2727 base futures (2147 the previous week), 195 peak futures (15) and zero caps (0).

Calendar options: There were 105 calendar options, compared to zero the previous week. As with the previous week no quarterly options were traded.

Block trades up by 610: The volume of block trades at 2115 was up 610 (40.5 per cent) on the 1505 the previous week.

Total MWh traded up 50.0pc The total MWh traded rose by 2,359,032 (50 per cent) to 7,081,151 on the 4,722,120 the previous week.

Reference: Media release on electricity futures by d-cypha Trade. 16 October 2007. Address: Level 32, ABN AMRO Tower. 88 Phillip Street. Sydney. NSW. 2000. Phone: (02) 8211 0615. Fax:
(02) 8211 0640.

Erisk Net, 16/10/2007

Open interest contracts rose by 882 (2.3 per cent) to 39,063 in the week to Monday, 15 October after falling by 4081 to 38,181 the previous week, according to figures supplied in a media release by the d-cypha Trade/Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE). Equivalent to about 102.88 million MWh: Open interest contracts in the week to 15 October equated to about 102.88 million megawatt hours (MWh), up 2.20 million MWh (2.2 per cent) on the 100.67 million MWh the previous week.

Jump in futures contracts: Trading in futures contracts jumped by 760 (35.2 per cent) to 2922 after falling by 813 (27.3 per cent) to 2162 the previous week.

Composition of futures contracts: The futures contracts traded during the week comprised 2727 base futures (2147 the previous week), 195 peak futures (15) and zero caps (0).

Calendar options: There were 105 calendar options, compared to zero the previous week. As with the previous week no quarterly options were traded.

Block trades up by 610: The volume of block trades at 2115 was up 610 (40.5 per cent) on the 1505 the previous week.

Total MWh traded up 50.0pc The total MWh traded rose by 2,359,032 (50 per cent) to 7,081,151 on the 4,722,120 the previous week.

Reference: Media release on electricity futures by d-cypha Trade. 16 October 2007. Address: Level 32, ABN AMRO Tower. 88 Phillip Street. Sydney. NSW. 2000. Phone: (02) 8211 0615. Fax:
(02) 8211 0640.

Erisk Net, 16/10/2007

The Bill would amend the Electricity Industry Act 2000, the Gas Industry Act 2001, the Gas Pipelines Access (Victoria) Act 1998, the Gas and Fuel Corporation (Heatane Gas) Act 1993 and would meet some other purposes. “The main thrust of it, however, is to make amendments as a consequence of the review of the Victorian Energy Networks Corporation, more commonly known as VENCorp,” Batchelor said. “A review was undertaken of that and this is implementing some of the responses. Secondly, the bill will extend the sunset of the energy customer safety net provisions by another 12 months, and a number of other matters.” Reference: Parliament of Victoria, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), Legislative Assembly, Fifty-Sixth parliament, First session, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 – Energy Legislation Further Amendment Bill Introduction and first reading

Erisk Net, 15/10/2007