Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources) Share this | Hansard source

I am going to have to tread very carefully here. It has been accused by my colleague behind me of that it is some sort of love-in every time the minister and I get to our feet. I have to say that this process is incredibly important, and it could have been overlooked as just another boring piece of resources legislation. In fact, as the minister has just said, this is world first legislation. It is legislation that I congratulate the minister on completing; it is legislation that I began in my previous life. Australia can hold its head high and be very proud with the passage of this legislation. It is legislation which, as the minister said, not only sets the blueprint for terrestrial sequestration here in Australia—and hopefully the state governments will take the lead and not fiddle around with it too much and not waste too much time—but also shows that Australia can do it better than anywhere else in the world when it comes to technology.

The Offshore Petroleum Amendment (Greenhouse Gas Storage) Bill 2008 will ensure that the opportunity is presented for those producers of energy from fossil fuel to sequester their CO2. That is incredibly important. But, just as important, it is a partnership between the Commonwealth government and the commercial operators of these fields. In doing so, Australia will be able to offer them an alternative to emitting that CO2 into the atmosphere. There are still a significant number of hurdles to step over before geosequestration—initially perhaps from oil and gas fields but ultimately from power stations—takes place. Those challenges cannot be underestimated. There is an enormous cost associated with geosequestration and an even greater cost associated with the development of the engineering and technology to actually perform it. This legislation creates that opportunity and it is legislation which is a world first and of which Australia can be very proud.

Question agreed to.

See this speech in context