For generations, the Hunter has powered this nation. Coal dug out of our region has kept the lights on, powered industry and helped build Australia. Hunter workers have done the heavy lifting. Our miners, power station workers, tradies, engineers, rail workers and local businesses have all played their part. I'm proud of that history and I'll never talk it down. It's a contribution our country should remember and our parliament should also respect. But the Hunter has never stood still. We've always adapted, built new industries and taken on the next job. That's exactly how we need to approach Australia's energy transition.

We should be practical, back our workers and make sure regional communities get more good local opportunities. That's why the Carbon Credits and Other Legislation Amendment (Integrity and Transparency) Bill 2026 matters to communities just like mine. It strengthens the Australian Carbon Credit Unit Scheme, which is known as the ACCU Scheme. It also improves the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme and makes practical changes to the new vehicle efficiency standards. That might sound technical, but the basic idea is pretty simple. If a carbon credit is bought and sold, people need to know it represents real emissions reduction. Farmers, businesses, investors and the community need confidence that the system is fair, transparent and properly regulated. That is what this bill delivers.

The ACCU Scheme supports projects that avoid emissions or remove and store carbon from the atmosphere. That can include new technology, upgraded equipment, better energy use, changed land management, soil carbon, tree planting and capturing methane from landfill. Since 2011, the scheme has delivered 190 million tonnes of abatement through more than 2,600 projects. The market is now worth more than $4 billion. For communities like the Hunter, confidence matters. We have major industries that are hard to abate. They employ thousands of people directly and support many more thousands of jobs through local supply chains. They need workable ways to cut emissions while continuing to produce the materials, energy and products Australia relies on.

High-integrity carbon credits are one part of that job. They're not a licence to do nothing. They're practical tool for emissions that can't yet be completely removed through available technologies. If credits aren't genuine, the whole system falls over and businesses lose confidence. Investors walk away. Regional projects miss out. Australia's emission targets become harder and more expensive to meet. So integrity isn't just an academic argument. It affects jobs, investment and whether the system actually works.

The Hunter knows what happens when policy is written without regional communities in mind. Workers are left wondering whether anyone in Canberra understands what they do or what their families rely on. I do understand it. I worked in our coal industry. I was a tradie. I was a fitter. I know the pride people take in doing a hard day's work, and I know they want straight answers about what the next generation of jobs will be and where they will come from. They don't want slogans. They want a plan that backs existing workers, attracts new investment and keeps reliable energy at the heart of our economy.

The ACCU Scheme helps create that bridge. It supports hard-to-abate industries while encouraging investment in new ways to reduce emissions. It gives farmers and landholders another income stream. It supports research, technology and skilled jobs. It can also improve soil, water retention, biodiversity and resilience against drought. Take the Bonnie Doone property west of Monto in Queensland. The Burnham family has raised livestock there for five generations. Their soil carbon project covers 5,275 hectares of an 8,000-hectare cattle property. They're using better grazing systems, new fencing, upgraded water infrastructure and longer rest periods for soil and pasture. The project creates ACCUs as a secondary income stream while improving soil health and water retention. That is not locking up productive farmland. That's helping a working farm become more productive and more resilient. Another example is the Strathdene planting project in South Australia. Holly and Luke Crawford farm 750 hectares of wheat, barley and legumes. Their carbon project covers 32 hectares with native plantings that will store carbon and create habitat for local species. The farm keeps producing food. The farm gets an additional opportunity. The environment improves. That is practical action.

The scheme is also delivering important economic and cultural benefits for First Nations communities. Savanna fire management combines traditional knowledge with modern technology. Early dry season burning creates firebreaks, reduces destructive late-season fires and cuts emissions. Almost three-quarters of credits produced through the savanna fire emissions avoidance method are generated by Indigenous carbon businesses. The West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement Project covers 28,000 square kilometres. Revenue from credits support ranger jobs, education, women's ranger programs, cultural site maintenance and ecological monitoring. It also gives traditional owners opportunities to pass on knowledge to younger generations while caring for our beautiful country. That's real work, real income and real community benefits.

This bill strengthens First Nations consent requirements too. Registered native title claimants will be recognised as eligible interest holders. Consent will be needed before relative projects on native title or claimed native title land can be registered, and consent about how the project will operate will be required before credits are issued. People with rights and interests in the land should be involved early and able to negotiate how projects will proceed and how benefits will be shared.

This bill also strengthens the independent integrity body. The Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee will become the Carbon Abatement Integrity Committee. At least one member must be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person. The committee will have clear functions, broad expertise and strong transparency requirements. This matters because methods need to keep pace with evidence. If a method creates a serious integrity risk, the government needs a careful way to deal with it. This bill creates a method transition declaration process. Before a declaration can be made, the minister must receive expert advice, consult publicly and consider the environmental, economic and social effects. A declaration can only proceed if affected projects could reasonably move to another available method. That protects the scheme without pulling the rug out from underneath those projects.

The bill also improves how incorrect crediting is handled. A project proponent will be able to voluntarily give back credits issued because of unintentionally incorrect information. The regulator will have clear powers when updated measurements show less abatement occurs than first estimated. At the same time, proponents won't be penalised simply because the government updates one of its own modelling tools or calculators. Again, it's a practical balance that fixes genuine errors, acts against wrongdoing and treats honest operators fairly.

The regulator will also get a better compliance toolkit. It will be able to review discussions based on false or misleading information and issue infringement notices for lower level breaches, instead of taking every matter to court. The fit-and-proper-person test will cover designated agents involved in these projects. The bill separates government purchasing from regulation by moving responsibility for buying ACCUs from the Clean Energy Regulator to the Department. That reduces actual and perceived conflicts and makes responsibility clearer.

Value for money will replace the narrow focus on least cost abatements. Price will remain important, but government will also be able to consider benefits like regional jobs, biodiversity and support for First Nations communities. For the Hunter, that's an important point. A policy decision shouldn't be judged only on the cheapest number on a spreadsheet. We need to look at what it means for local workers, local supply chains, industry capabilities and long-term strength for our communities.

The bill makes it easier for genuine research and development projects to participate. At the moment, the newest test can't stop a proponent beginning work while an application is being assessed. The reforms move the assessment point to the time of application and create a pathway for genuine R&D. That means people developing new emissions reduction technology can get moving sooner without losing eligibility. That's exactly the kind of work the Hunter should be competing for. We have industrial based skilled workers, researchers and energy know-how. We've powered Australia for generations and we should be at the forefront of the industries that will power it in the future. That includes renewable energy, storage, hydrogen, carbon management, advanced manufacturing and the ongoing work of making traditional industries cleaner and more competitive. The transition mustn't mean closing one gate and hoping another job appears somewhere else. It means building new investment alongside existing industries, training local people and using the skills we've already got.

This bill also gives landholders more flexibility. It will allow different sequestration and emissions avoidance activities to be credited within the same project. It will support framework style methods, including the proposed integrated farm and land management method. Project operators will be able to change crediting start dates more than once, receive extra time for some reports and more easily transition savanna fire projects between methods. Landholders will have the option to adjust parts of the sequestration project if relevant credits are relinquished. These changes respond to more than a decade of experience running this scheme. They are about moving pointless barriers while keeping the rules strong.

The bill also improves the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme. This is Australia's national framework for company reporting on greenhouse gas emissions, energy production and energy use. Reliable public information matters. Communities deserve to know what major businesses are reporting, and government needs solid data to design policy to measure these programs. The reforms streamline publication, allow more detailed information to be required through regulations, close possible reporting gaps and let the regulator remove companies in liquidation from the register.

The final part of this bill makes timing changes to the new vehicle efficiency standards. The standards have encouraged manufacturers to send Australia a better range of more fuel efficient vehicles. More people now have access to hybrids and EVs, along with lower running costs and greater choice. In August 2026 more than 27,000 battery EVs were sold, making up 24.9 per cent of new vehicle sales in this country. EVs outsold petrol cars that month for the first time. The amendments don't change the headline emission limits or vehicles covered. They fix the sequence of key dates so suppliers get the intended two years to manage and extinguishing units. Industry asked for certainty, and this bill provides it.

Regional communities have heard plenty of noise in the energy debate. Too often people come to places like the Hunter with a lecture already written and no interest in listening. That's not how I operate, and it's not how I expect any government to operate. The people I represent are practical. They know that energy is changing. They also know Australia still needs reliable power, strong industry and secure jobs. They expect government to manage change, not simply just announce it. This bill is practical. It improves integrity without killing investment. It protects First Nations rights. It gives farmers more options. It strengthens transparency. It supports research and makes three important national schemes work better together. It also helps build confidence in regional Australia. When the rules are clear and credits are genuine, businesses can invest, landholders can participate and communities can share in the benefits.

The Hunter has carried this nation on its back for generations. The coal from our mines and the power from our stations have built cities, supported manufacturing and kept homes running right across the country. Our contribution deserves respect. It also deserves a serious plan for the next decades ahead. I want the Hunter to keep powering the nation. I want workers building, operating and maintaining the next generation of energy and industry. I want our kids to have a choice to stay in our region, get a trade, build a career and raise a family close to home. This bill helps do that by making Australia's carbon market stronger, clearer and more trustworthy. I commend the bill to the House.