Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I present a supplementary explanatory memorandum to the bill and move government amendments (1) and (2), as circulated, together:

(1)    Schedule 1, item 188, page 57 (line 4), after “22E”, insert “, 74AA”.

(2)    Schedule 1, item 194, page 62 (before line 12), before section 74B, insert:

74AA Audit of persons providing reports under section 22A

        (1)    This section applies if:

             (a)    a person was a liable entity for an eligible financial year; and

             (b)    the person is required to provide a report under section 22A in relation to the eligible financial year; and

             (c)    the person’s gross emissions number for the eligible financial year exceeds the number specified in the regulations in relation to the eligible financial year.

Note:   For gross emissions number, see subsection (5).

        (2)    The person must:

             (a)    appoint as an audit team leader a registered greenhouse and energy auditor of the person’s choice; and

             (b)    arrange for the audit team leader to carry out an audit of:

                   (i)    the section 22A report; and

                  (ii)    such other matters (if any) relating to the section 22A report as are specified in the regulations; and

                 (iii)    the person’s compliance with section 22B in relation to the eligible financial year; and

             (c)    arrange for the audit team leader to give the person a written report setting out the results of the audit; and

             (d)    give the Authority a copy of the audit report:

                   (i)    on the day on which the section 22A report is provided to the Authority; and

                  (ii)    in the manner specified in the regulations.

Civil penalty:

             (a)    for an individual—200 penalty units; or

             (b)    otherwise—1,000 penalty units.

Note:   Under section 30, a person may be liable for an additional civil penalty for each day after the day mentioned in paragraph (d) for which the person fails to provide an audit report in accordance with this section.

        (3)    The regulations may specify:

             (a)    the type of audit to be carried out; and

             (b)    the matters to be covered by the audit; and

             (c)    the form of the audit report and the kinds of details it is to contain.

        (4)    The person must provide the audit team leader and any audit team members with all reasonable facilities and assistance necessary for the effective exercise of the audit team leader’s duties under this Act.

Civil penalty:

             (a)    for an individual—50 penalty units; or

             (b)    otherwise—250 penalty units.

        (5)    For the purposes of this section, a person’s gross emissions number for an eligible financial year is the total of the person’s provisional emissions numbers (if any) for the eligible financial year.

Briefly, the amendments to the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009 will require large emitters responsible for emissions of 125,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents or more to have their emission reports properly audited before submitting them to the regulatory authority on 31 October of each year. This is consistent with the policy position on auditing outlined in the government’s white paper on the scheme, and I commend the amendments to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill, as amended, agreed to.

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