Last week the Queensland government released a response to the major recommendations of the Williams Review and signalled their intention to legislate some of the recommendations and engage in a round of final consultation on others, with a view to finalising an updated version of the Electrical Safety Act this year. Australia is rapidly entering an era of electrification making it crucial that QLD’s new Electrical Safety Act is updated and future proofed to reflect new and emerging technologies and provide continued safety for our industry. The advocacy, technical, and safety teams at MEA have cast their eye over the government response and have offered their feedback on the government response as we move towards the first tranche of changes to the legislation.

With the introduction of more and more high current ELV equipment into electrical installations, MEA is especially pleased to see Government recognising this with a proposed ‘high risk extra low voltage’ electrical equipment definition in the proposed Bill.  This is a positive move, as the Government has recognised the emerging role battery and other storage technology have as we move towards a Consumer Energy Resources (CER) future in an effort to electrify Australia and meet carbon reduction targets.  The safety of our members working in the CER field will be better regulated under the amended Act (when the Bill is assented) and ensure untrained personnel cannot install batteries and other storage technology.

While the review has a significant number of recommendations yet to be consulted on in the coming year to be considered in the Act, this is a positive move in the right direction for protecting the safety of our members and the wider industry in the emerging electrotechnology field. The team at MEA will keep our Qld members posted this year on developments, and ask their feedback when consultation is taking place.