Hansard debates

                           ENERGY SAFE VICTORIA BILL
                                 Second reading

  Mr BRUMBY (Treasurer) -- I move:
  That this bill be now read a second time.
The Energy Safe Victoria Bill provides for the merger of the Office of the Chief
Electrical  Inspector  and  the Office  of  Gas  Safety into  a  new streamlined
regulator, operating as Energy Safe Victoria.
Establishment  of  a single  energy  safety  regulator for  Victoria  was a  key
recommendation arising from 

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government's recent review of energy safety regulators in Victoria.
The  merger will improve efficiency and economies of scale, without compromising
the  high-quality  safety outcomes already being achieved by  Victoria's  energy
regulators.
Energy Safe Victoria  will  provide an increasingly efficient and cost-effective
operating environment.  Alongside reduced  on-site costs, the  implementation of
common  systems, procedures and standards will provide greater  consistency  for
industry and  will  streamline  operational  activities  undertaken  by  the new
regulator. Increased efficiencies  will also occur through increased integration
with government planning, management and reporting requirements.
At the same  time, the proposed  organisational  structure of the  new regulator
supports the retention of specialist expertise at appropriate levels.

This bill establishes the new regulator, Energy Safe Victoria, and provides  for
the  transfer  of  the  existing functions and powers of  the  Office  of  Chief
Electrical Inspector and Office of Gas Safety to that body.
Part 1 of  the  bill  sets  out the purpose of  the  act  and  provides  for its
commencement. Part  2  provides  for the establishment of the new regulator as a
statutory  body corporate,  with  objectives and functions  as  provided in  the
Electricity Safety Act 1998, the Gas Safety Act 1997 and other relevant acts.
Part  2  also  provides  that Energy Safe Victoria will comprise a  director  of
energy safety, to be appointed  by  the  Governor  in  Council, and provides for
other appointments  to the new body, delegation of powers,  the establishment of
committees, borrowing powers and corporate planning requirements.

Part 3  of the  bill provides Energy Safe Victoria with an  additional power  to
undertake  and  conduct  inquiries  by  its  own initiation  or  by  ministerial
direction.  This power  is  consistent  with the  powers  currently held by  the
Essential Services Commission.
The bill also provides for consequential  amendments, including the abolition of
the Office of Chief Electrical Inspector and the Office of Gas Safety.
I commend the bill to the house.
Debate adjourned on motion of Mr PERTON (Doncaster).
Debate adjourned until Thursday, 2 June.