Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Like Senator Hutchins, I am very pleased to be able to speak to the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Amendment Bill 2008 today and support it, because it is yet another plank in the government’s legislative framework to address the pressing issue of climate change and, in particular, to introduce our emissions trading scheme, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, which, although a daunting prospect for the government, is one that we have embraced and are very proud to be advancing through steps in consultation with the community and with business. This bill, while modest in its intent, is certainly very necessary to ensure that we have the best possible outcome with regard to the introduction of our Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

Introduced by the coalition last year, the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 was enacted on 28 September 2007. The act established a national mandatory corporate reporting system for, and for the dissemination of information related to, greenhouse emissions, energy consumption and production. This bill will make a number of minor amendments to the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act to improve the administration of the act and to make modifications to what information can be published by the government under the act.

Before it passed through parliament, the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 was referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, now called—much easier to say—the Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts. The committee tabled its report on September 2007. As part of its report, it noted:

All stakeholders supported the development of a national greenhouse gas reporting scheme.

The report goes on with an example:

The Australian Industry Greenhouse Network (AIGN), representing industry associations and corporations, stated that:

AIGN members have long supported the need to develop a rigorous, transparent, nationally consistent, energy and greenhouse reporting system, underpinned by purpose built Commonwealth legislation.

The report goes on to say:

Environmental groups were also supportive. The Australian Network of Environmental Defender’s Offices (ANEDO) stated that [it] has consistently supported proposals for comprehensive and transparent public reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. State governments also indicated their support. The Victorian government for example stated that:

The implementation of a national mandatory emissions reporting system is a critical building block in the introduction of a national emissions trading scheme. The Victorian Government supports the development of the most efficient emissions reporting system that imposes the least cost and least regulatory burden on business.

Of course, what the Victorian government stated there is the objective of the federal government as well.

I am pleased to be supporting the bill, which will greatly improve and strengthen a scheme which has, already, so much support and which will necessarily make sure that there is accountability and transparent reporting mechanisms for the future CPRS. Prior to the election last year, Labor was clear on the fact that the future of the environment and tackling climate change was to be one of the highest priorities for Labor if we won government. It became apparent that it was also of the highest priority for the Australian public because they rewarded the Labor Party with the honour of government and the honour of being able to lead the nation in tackling climate change.

The Labor Party has always been up front with the Australian public about these important issues. This is in contrast to those opposite who refused to act on climate change despite the fact that they had more than 11 years to do so. From time to time we note that there are still, on the opposition seats, climate change sceptics. It was very disappointing to see the Leader of the Opposition on a television program last night still grappling with whether or not he believed that climate change was having an effect on water security in Australia, and in particular in my state of South Australia.

Recently I was fortunate enough to speak about these important issues with the agriculture sector when I represented Minister Burke at the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics Regional Outlook conference in Mount Gambier in South Australia. It was a very welcome opportunity to meet with stakeholders and hear about research on various topics affecting rural and regional areas. These topics ranged from local agricultural data and innovative business practices that farmers, horticulturalists and agricultural producers are implementing in my state of South Australia through to the global commodity overview.

I spoke to the conference about two challenges that frame much of the federal government’s policy for our agriculture, fishing and forestry industries, particularly in the context of climate change. The first challenge discussed was, unsurprisingly, climate change and the fact that that is the greatest threat to the wellbeing of our agricultural competitiveness and sustainability. As I have said before, the Labor government’s response to climate change is based on three pillars that are worth reiterating: adapting to inevitable and unavoidable climate change; reducing our carbon emissions; and being part of a global solution.

Linked to climate change is another major pressure on primary industries—that is, globalisation, or the way the world effectively is shrinking as people and goods cross borders more seamlessly and in greater volumes. Globalisation is also a driver for Australia implementing a national emissions trading scheme, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. We want to be there with the rest of the modern world addressing climate change through an ETS.

Agriculture, forestry and fishing, of course, are all huge contributors to the economy of my state, and none of those contributors is immune to global pressures. Rightly, the people who attended the conference at which I spoke were concerned about the prospect of an emissions trading scheme but were reassured by government representatives that they would continue to be consulted about the implementation of that scheme, which has particular implications for agriculture. One of the reasons agriculture will not be included in the scheme is that we want to have adequate time to get our policy absolutely right in that regard.

As I said before, since the Rudd government was elected we have made sure that climate change and addressing the health and wellbeing of our environment are upfront and centre. One of the first actions of the new government was ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in December 2007, just a week or so after the election. Representing Australia in those negotiations was Senator Penny Wong, Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Water. This is the first time the nation has had a minister with specific portfolio responsibilities in that area—and a great initiative that was on the part of the Prime Minister!

I did mention the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. The following principles will guide the development of the scheme, and this bill that we are discussing today is integral to the success of that scheme. The scheme will be a cap and trade scheme. That is, it will set an overall environmental cap by issuing a set number of permits and allow entities to trade permits, thereby putting a price on carbon. The caps will be designed to place Australia on a low-emissions path in a way that best manages the economic impacts of transition, while assuring our ongoing economic prosperity.

It is very disappointing to hear the gloom and doom apocalyptic predictions of those opposite about the implementation of an ETS when the government is striving very hard to bring industry on board and encouraging them to participate in our negotiations, discussion and policy development. My colleague Senator Hutchins went into some considerable detail about what the government is doing in that regard and how big business in Australia is well ahead of the opposition in coming to grips with the fact that climate change exists and that we may need to make significant policy advances—policy leaps, in fact—to ensure that we address it as a mature country not afraid to confront the significant global issues out there that will affect us if we do not take a leadership stance, which I am pleased to see we will be doing.

The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme will necessarily have maximum coverage of greenhouse gases and sectors, to the extent that it is practical. The broader the scheme’s coverage, as we know, the more cost effective it will be, the more cost effectively it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the more fairly it will spread the burden of such reductions across all sectors of the community. The scheme will be designed to enable international linkages, while ensuring it suits Australia’s economic conditions. The scheme’s design will address the competitive challenges facing emission-intensive trade-exposed industries in Australia and it will also address the impact on strongly affected industries. Measures will be developed to assist households, particularly low-income households, to adjust to the impact of carbon prices.

This bill is another step along the way to achieving an effective carbon pollution reduction scheme, the broad outline of which I have just put to the Senate. This bill establishes a framework for mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and energy production and consumption by industry. The bill will make mandatory the separate disclosure of scope 1, direct, and scope 2, indirect, greenhouse gas emissions. Direct greenhouse gas emissions are those owned or controlled by a company, while indirect emissions are those produced by third parties using a product. The most obvious example is energy consumption. This new reporting process will give consumers and investors a much more realistic idea about emissions, as some sectors contribute to significant indirect emissions.

The National Generators Forum expressed some criticism of this proposal, saying it will add to the red tape of the system without assisting greenhouse emissions trading, and the government has taken those criticisms into account and will simplify the reporting process by setting up an online emissions calculator—an innovative way to use modern technology to address a modern problem. The government is very cognisant of the fact that we need to keep a lid on red tape and avoid any significant increase in the reporting burdens that could otherwise be faced by business if we did not take that into account.

The bill also gives the minister power to determine the methods for measuring emissions, energy production and energy consumption. The minister will set out how emissions, reduction, removal, offsets, production and consumption are to be measured. Registered corporations and members of a corporation’s group must also comply with an external audit process.

Currently, around 450 companies are required to report their emissions; however, lower thresholds will gradually be phased in from 2010 and the number of companies involved will be increased to more than 700. The amendment in the bill will simplify the emissions-reporting requirements for companies and will help to give us a clearer picture about the emissions that companies produce. Of course, that information is integral to ensuring the effectiveness of our CPRS. At the same time, the bill will increase the number of matters which may be published by the Greenhouse and Energy Data Officer to improve public access to information on corporate use of energy and greenhouse gas emissions.

A very important part of the system is to eliminate duplication in industry reporting requirements under the existing state, territory and Commonwealth greenhouse gas and energy programs. It provides a repository for data which may potentially serve the needs of all Australian governments, and that will also be invaluable in developing and implementing our CPRS. The government is working with the states and territories through the Council of Australian Governments to identify opportunities for streamlining national reporting requirements via this system. That is another excellent example of cooperation between the state and federal governments to address the most significant issue facing us.

In addition, the system aims to underpin the introduction of an emissions trading scheme and will assist the government to meet Australia’s international reporting requirements. An example of the greater flexibility provided by the amendments in this bill is in the area of registration of corporations under the act. Unfortunately, with the limited time, I will not go into that in great detail, save to say that once again it is a very necessary mechanism to ensure that we have the best possible CPRS and that we are collecting the best possible data and making it available to those who need to know so that we can have the best possible policy in every area when it comes to addressing climate change and carbon emissions.

The bill clarifies that a member of a corporation’s group must provide assistance to an external auditor during audits of the corporation’s group—again, an accountability mechanism targeted at organisations to ensure that the integrity of the data is as good as it can be, as good as it must be, for us to develop and implement the best possible mechanisms to address and reduce carbon emissions in this nation.

I am very pleased I have had the opportunity to speak to this bill today and I understand that there are a number of other speakers on the list. It is always of interest to see that what seems like a modest bill has in fact generated considerable interest amongst senators in the chamber. I think it is a testament to the Senate that we are taking considerable time to address very minor amendments but in an area that is integral to the future economic and social wellbeing of the nation. That is about all I can squeeze in today and I look forward to seeing this bill in operation in the very near future as the nation moves onwards and forwards—

Debate interrupted.