Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2019 amends the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Act 2003(the levies act) to clarify the application of levies in relation to cross-boundary greenhouse gas titles, as well as to the Crown in right of the states and the Northern Territory.

Amendments to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (the OPGGS Act) included in the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Cross-boundary Greenhouse Gas Titles and Other Measures) Bill 2019 (the cross-boundary titles bill) provide for the grant of cross-boundary greenhouse gas titles over an area that includes both Commonwealth waters and state or Northern Territory coastal waters.

Amendments to the OPGGS Act included in the cross-boundary titles bill also provide that greenhouse gas related provisions of the OPGGS Act and the regulations apply, and are taken to always have applied, to the states and the Northern Territory. These amendments are intended to remove any doubt about the validity of greenhouse gas assessment permits that have been granted to the Crown in right of Victoria.

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) and the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator both operate on a cost-recovery basis. This bill removes any doubt that levies imposed by the levies act are effectively imposed on cross-boundary greenhouse gas titles, including the part of a title that is in state or Northern Territory coastal waters, and that the levies act applies to the Crown in right of each of the states and the Northern Territory. In effect, this means that levies are imposed in relation to regulatory activities undertaken in respect of greenhouse gas titles held by a state or the Northern Territory.

The amendments included in this bill will not change the substance or practical effect of the levies act. The purpose of retrospective application is to validate past payments of annual titles administration levy by the Crown in right of Victoria under the levies act. No person will be disadvantaged as a result of retrospectivity.

I commend this bill to the chamber.

Debate adjourned.