John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Tonight I rise to support the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Amendment Bill 2009. The proposed amendments in this bill seek to clarify the requirements and regulations contained in the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 and to better reflect its original policy intent. The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Amendment Bill 2009 will also make minor changes to clarify definitions, improve its administration and strengthen the audit framework established by the act.

The act established a single national framework for reporting greenhouse gas emissions, abatement actions, energy consumption and production by corporations. The act included the mandatory registration of controlling corporations whose corporate groups produce energy or consume energy at or above specified quantities over a financial year. It was made mandatory for such corporations to register with the national system and outlined requirements for registered corporations to keep records and to provide reports.

The act also outlined the requirements concerning the security and disclosure of information, enforcement and administration arrangements. Further, it included the establishment of the Greenhouse and Energy Data Officer and other arrangements such as compliance monitoring. To ensure the highest integrity of such data, which may be meaningfully assessed, the proposed amendments seek a clarification of key operational terms relating to greenhouse and energy audits conducted under this act. The need for such an act, as you know and I know, Mr Deputy Speaker, is the evidence that the earth’s climate is changing. In fact the 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1990—

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