George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity—at last!—to speak on the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2010 and on the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Safety Levies) Amendment Bill 2010, which cover an industry which is of great significance not only to the Australian economy but also to Australian energy security.

The bills amend the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 to implement policy and technical amendments. The act was last amended in 2009. The Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Safety Levies) Amendment Bill 2010 amends the 2003 act to provide transitional arrangements in relation to the phasing out of the pipeline safety management plan levy. The Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2010 amends the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006. I should have done that in reverse. This is a relatively small bill, making a number of minor policy and technical amendments.

In 2008, the coalition supported the Offshore Petroleum Amendment (Greenhouse Gas Storage) Bill 2008, which amended the Offshore Petroleum Act 2006 to establish a system of offshore titles to authorise transportation, injection and storage of greenhouse gas substances, principally carbon dioxide, into deep geological formations under the seabed. Of course, there has been a great deal of talk and not much action, in relation to geosequestration, from those on the other side, although I did note with interest the announcement of the minister two weeks ago, where a significant amount of money was awarded to various projects in relation to carbon capture and storage. Interestingly, though, most of that money went overseas. It is of some interest to me that the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute, established with such fanfare by the previous Prime Minister, has really received no international support of any great moment. In fact, only one country out of the many said to be involved in that institute has actually put any money up. At last count, the Americans, who offered $500,000, did so a few days before they received $6½ million for a project in Texas.

Serious questions are now being asked about the economic viability of carbon capture and storage. The missing link in all of this, apart from the government’s continued talk and insufficient action, is that the coal industry is going to have to put real dollars on the table. They will not be surprised by that message. If carbon capture and storage is to be economically viable, the coal industry is going to have to invest substantial sums of money in it. I am not talking about hundreds of millions of dollars; I am talking about several billions of dollars. Without that support and without commitment from other countries, the concept being championed by the Minister for Resources and Energy will simply go nowhere, along with the myriad other policies that have been announced during the Labor Party’s time in government that have gone nowhere.

The coalition does support in principle the establishment of a national offshore petroleum regulator, but it must be a national, not a federal, regulator—that is, it must have representatives from those states which are involved in the regulation of offshore petroleum along with the Commonwealth government. It needs to be a partnership—a partnership where we all share responsibility and also share the aim of making sure that the regulator operates in a way which will produce the optimum outcome. We need to ensure that all states agree with the establishment and operation of the national offshore petroleum regulator.

That is achievable but, along with its inability to deliver, this government continually fails in the area of consultation. We have seen a classic example of that recently with the discussion paper—I think it was perhaps a ‘guide to a discussion paper’; it seems to be of less importance everyday—on water management. The Gillard government has the same bad trait that the Rudd government had, and that is that it fails to consult. We need to have consultation in the case of the national offshore petroleum regulator. It is an issue that needs to be finalised, but it will not be finalised unless this government consults with all concerned, particularly, with the Western Australian government.

Unfortunately, there is much work to be done if the government is to meet its responsibilities to the oil and gas sector. It is particularly frustrating that the government has again delayed the release of its energy white paper, which obviously impacts on the oil and gas industry and a whole range of energy resources, not the least of which is electricity. While this legislation today is important to the oil and gas industry, it does, nevertheless, highlight the piecemeal approach to energy policy in Australia. The most recent delaying tactic occurred earlier this month when the government fobbed off once again the release of the energy white paper with another excuse, this time attempting to pass off an energy efficiency report as a temporary stand-in for the energy white paper. The report is not an energy white paper and does not fill the void created by three years of inaction in this area by the Rudd, and now Gillard, governments.

Households and businesses across Australia are focused on the rapidly escalating price of electricity. The federal government has comprehensively failed to provide leadership for the energy sector right across the board—electricity, oil, gas and coal—by dodging its responsibilities to provide the energy policy framework that would be contained in an energy white paper. There have been myriad excuses. First, there were the problems with the ETS. Now the Gillard government is trying to inflict more delays on the sector while its climate change panel deliberates for another year about a potential carbon tax.

The last energy white paper was delivered by the Howard government in 2004. In keeping with the regular five-year cycle, an updated version is now well and truly overdue. There have been enough excuses, enough delays and enough drip-feeds. It is time for the Gillard government to release a comprehensive energy white paper that will address the full range of issues affecting the energy sector.

Nevertheless, the coalition welcomes the changes to the legislation before the Senate today and supports the bills. The government must accept and address that its day of reckoning on energy matters is fast approaching. Every day it leaves the energy and resources sector without a clear framework is another day that investment decisions must be made in a policy vacuum and another day in which no solution is offered to limit the rapidly increasing electricity price rises being felt across Australia. The energy sector is so significant not only because of the price that the community pays for electricity but also because it is the basis of our economic development. There are a number of senators who are watching development in the onshore petroleum industry, particularly the coal seam industry, with great expectation, waiting for some definitive policies in relation to energy, from this government. While we as an opposition provide our constructive support where we can—as we do on these bills—we need to see some action if this country is to have the confidence to make investments that will see not only the exploration of oil and gas continue but also the development of onshore industries and, most importantly, the continued development of clean baseload electricity generation in Australia. With those remarks, I commend the bills to the Senate.

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

While the Greens will not be opposing the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2010 and the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Safety Levies) Amendment Bill 2010, I did want to put on record our concerns that we still have not seen—and this will come as no surprise to the government, because I have been putting this issue on the agenda for some time—the Montara report released publicly. It was handed to government in June, and we have been concerned that the report has not been made public. The issue there for us is that we know from reading the transcripts from the Montara inquiry that there is a requirement for change to oil and gas regulation in this country. We believe that the transcript provides ways forward on that and we are anxious to see the government’s approach. We are pleased that parts of this bill do take some steps towards that. We understand that the government needed time to consider the report. However, we believe it is important that the public has access to that report as soon as possible and also understands where the government is going on oil and gas—its vision for oil and gas legislation in this country.

Having said that, we will not oppose these bills, because we can see this as a step in the right direction. We hope the government will articulate a framework for change to the oil and gas regulatory process and legislation as soon as possible. I know that many people, for example in my home state of Western Australia, are very anxious to see, first off, the Montara commission of inquiry’s report and also the government’s response.

The oil and gas industry, as Senator Brandis has said, is a very important industry to this country, no more so than in my home state of Western Australia, where the oil and gas industry is growing and more and more areas are being opened to oil and gas exploration and production. That industry (a) plays of an important role in our economy but (b) has enormous potential to pose risks to human lives and to our environment, as we saw with Montara. To a certain extent we in Western Australia escaped a bullet with the Montara leak in that the accident occurred further from the shore and it did not affect the Kimberley coast. With the level of oil and gas exploration and production that is going on in Western Australia, off the entire coast, there is a potential that we would not be so lucky in the future. In other words, we do not want to see an accident happen where oil and gas ends up on the shores of the Kimberley.

We have been very vocal in our opposition to the release of the Mentelle Basin, also known as the Naturalist Plateau, which is only 83 kilometres off the coast of Margaret River on the south-west coast of Western Australia. There is very strong opposition to the release of that area. In that case, if we had a spill the size of Montara it would end up from cape to cape on that south-west coast. If we had one the size of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, it would end up on the beaches north of Perth and around the south coast. That is why we believe we need to amend our oil and gas legislation. There is very, very strong support in Western Australia for that.

This is a small step. We will be waiting very anxiously for the government’s release of the Montara report and to see their vision for the changes they are going to make to oil and gas legislation so that we can be confident we have the best possible regulation. World’s best practice is what we are looking for from the government in their response to any findings. I am sure that some strong findings were made, given the sort of evidence that was available in the transcripts. Very strong evidence was given and we expect to see a strong response from government.

David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

These bills underscore the government’s commitment to the maintenance and continuing improvement of a strong, effective framework for the regulation of offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas activities. By strengthening the functions and powers of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority and clarifying titleholders’ occupational health and safety duties in relation to wells, the bills also demonstrate the government’s recognition that safety remains a key priority for the offshore petroleum industry and the government’s commitment to ensure that safety matters are effectively incorporated within the offshore petroleum legislative regime. I thank senators for their contributions and I commend the bills to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bills read a second time.