ANGER over proposed cuts to the solar bonus scheme has forced the Premier, Barry O'Farrell, to announce compensation for people who face losing thousands of dollars on their investments.
But no details were announced by Mr O'Farrell, who has asked the Energy Minister, Chris Hartcher, to report back on options within three weeks.
At a news conference before a joint party room meeting yesterday, Mr O'Farrell said he would push ahead with retrospective legislation to cut the tariff paid to participants from 60¢ a kilowatt hour to 40¢. But in a bid to settle his backbench and win support in the upper house, he said the cabinet had resolved to introduce ''hardship provisions'' for those most affected, including pensioners, welfare recipients, farmers and self-funded retirees.
He said he was committed to saving taxpayers $470 million from the cuts. He could not say how much the compensation would cost but it would focus on the cost of buying solar panels, interest rates paid on loans to buy them, and connection fees.
MPs were briefed on the changes during a 2½-hour joint party room meeting, at which Mr O'Farrell assured MPs retrospective legislation was the exception, not the rule.
He appears to have won over MPs openly critical of the decision, including the upper house member, Catherine Cusack, the Riverstone MP, Kevin Conolly, and the Nationals' Steve Cansdell, who indicated they would not cross the floor.
One MP described the meeting as ''pretty low key'' but another said the consensus was that the decision to cut the tariff rate was ''like drowning kittens. It's not something that we wanted to do but it was necessary''.
The announcement was greeted with disbelief by the solar energy industry, which said it ''made a bad situation worse''.
The chief executive of the Australian Solar Energy Society, John Grimes, said he was dumbfounded. ''We just can't understand why a premier who is saying this is being driven by the money … would open up the cheque book and say we're going to buy off anybody who suffers financial hardship,'' he said.
The Opposition Leader, John Robertson, said the lack of detail meant the package was ''uncosted, unexplained and unbelievable''. The Greens said it would create more uncertainty for bonus scheme customers.
Mr O'Farrell said he would discuss the package with the Shooters and Fishers Party and Christian Democratic Party MPs, whose votes the government needs to pass the bill in the upper house.
''The biggest concern that's been expressed to me, whether crossbenchers, whether members of Parliament, have been about the impact on those who entered into contracts and the financial implications they may face,'' he said.
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