The federal government will be told it needs to “play catch up” with rural community groups dealing with the issue of rising energy prices, when Parliament resumes in Canberra on Monday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Indi MP Cathy will introduce legislation asking the government to better support renewable energy initiatives such as Totally Renewable Yackandandah.
Working towards a goal for the town to be 100 per cent reliant on renewable energy by 2022, TRY and Ausnet Services are in the process of launching a “mini grid” where homes in an estate will store solar power with a new battery and computer system, and trade excess energy.
“I reckon one of the solutions to the high price of energy is for communities and local government to work on their own systems and we’ve demonstrated in Yackandandah, with the mini grid, that this is the way to go,” Ms McGowan said.
“It’s not the answer to everything, but together with the bigger changes that are happening I reckon for rural and regional Australia, it’ll make a real difference.”
She said the government could assist by changing legislation to remove barriers to power sharing, help determine a pricing structure and provide seed funding for community groups to develop the systems.
Former resources minister Matt Canavan described those involved in Yackandandah’s renewable energy goal as living in a “fantasy land” when he visited the Border in February, but Ms McGowan called on the government to bring in community energy as one of the “big players” alongside coal-powered stations.
“What I’ve seen happen is just communities running ahead with this,” she said.
“In North East Victoria and Southern NSW and many other communities, the communities are getting together and solving their own problem. I think the government needs to play catch up and that’s what I’ll be saying in Parliament: you need to move much quicker.”
The outcome of Barnaby Joyce’s citizenship dramas will be unknown when Parliament resumes and Ms McGowan said she had remained in contact with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during “a really important time for the country”.
“That has serious repercussions for the government and certainly for me in my position as a cross-bench MP because it could take away that one vote majority the government’s got,” she said.
