Darren Cheeseman (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I stand to speak on the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Amendment Bill 2009. I must say from the outset that it is nice to finally be immersing ourselves in the nitty-gritty of laws that will actually go some way to addressing climate change. It is a really good feeling to be doing this, and it is a long way from the Howard years, when the previous government were climate change deniers. Through those years, Australia became an international embarrassment, blindly following the thoroughly discredited US Republican administration down the path of denial of the absolutely obvious. After that shameful chapter in Australian history, it was a great thing that the Rudd government ratified the Kyoto protocol, and we are now moving to legislate for climate change reduction. This feels even better for me; we are finally getting down to working through the details of practical actions that we as a government need to take.

Australia has moved a long way in the short time that the Rudd government has been in office, but our political opponents, the Liberals, still do not seem to get the problem of climate change. There have been many studies which have totally spelt out the devastation that climate change will cause, and the conclusive evidence that has come from those very detailed reports over many years shows the challenges that climate change will present not only to our economy but to the international economy. The Liberals are still stuck in time; nothing seems to have changed for them at all. They are still stuck between the climate change deniers, the climate change delayers and those who just want to ignore the whole problem.

I had a really good laugh over breakfast during the last parliamentary sitting period when I was reading a piece by Michelle Grattan in her column in the Age. Michelle described the current Leader of the Opposition as a horse rider riding two horses at once, one foot on each, desperately holding the reins and trying to keep the two horses together. Two wild horses—Neddy Do Nothing and Neddy Denial, with Malcolm in the middle. He was probably reading a leaked fabricated email at that time, so he may have missed that contribution, but that image was perfectly captured by Michelle. She really nailed it in that one sentence—‘Malcolm in the middle’. Of course, that is very disappointing for this nation.

I should say something about the detail of this bill. This bill again shows the rigour with which Rudd government ministers are approaching all legislation. We are trying to be thorough to ensure the legislation works as it was intended. This bill strengthens the audit framework established by the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act by requiring auditors to register with the Greenhouse and Energy Data Officer, or GEDO. It also clarifies audit arrangements by making a number of other administrative amendments. It is also important to note that this bill imposes no burdens on industry beyond those originally intended by that act. This bill will be followed by subsequent legislation that goes through in detail the requirements for the audit registration and the criteria for conducting and reporting on those audits. There is a very obvious imperative for this bill, which is that we must have a very strong and robust third-party audit framework to support the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and to ensure proper compliance.

I would like to say a couple of other things about the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme because this bill and that legislation are very strongly linked. There is no doubt that we need and, one day soon, will have a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. It is simply a matter of time. It is a terrible shame that we currently have all the game playing by the various political parties in this place and in the Senate, particularly by the Liberal Party and the National Party. I believe that most Australians strongly support what Labor is doing and abhor the silly games being played by the coalition. Clearly, putting in place a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is extremely difficult, but it is essential. It has implications for our current workforce and provides some great opportunities to grow new jobs and develop new industries. We hope to introduce a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in a way that does not tip hundreds of thousands of people out of work, and that is what Labor is doing. We are putting in place a well thought through, well calibrated piece of legislation designed to grow jobs and to ensure affected industries can make that transition.

We must also take account of what the rest of the world is doing, and Labor’s legislation does just that. However, I believe it is also incumbent on countries in the developed world to take a lead. It is the countries of the developed world that created this problem. The less-developed countries have every right to point that fact out. I believe Australia, as one of the most developed countries in the world and also the country with the highest carbon footprint per head in the world, has a moral obligation to lead on this question. That is why the opposition stance is so shameful; that is why the opposition stance is so immoral. My view is that the most culpable of our political leaders in this debate are the climate change deniers. If some people still want to believe the world is flat, I guess that is their decision; they are just foolish and ignorant. My real beef is with those on the other side who know that climate change is happening, who know that climate change is caused by carbon pollution and greenhouse gases but do not take any steps to address it. They would rather take some cheap, opportunistic response than do something about the most significant issue facing this planet. They care more about scoring points than about their kids’ futures. It is time the opposition took a hard look at themselves on this question.

Another important aspect of this bill is that it requires the results of the greenhouse energy audits to be included on the register established under section 16 of the act. This is extremely important for building on our knowledge base and data sources on business carbon outputs. A more detailed knowledge of the outputs across every industry is very important. A knowledge of what every industry sector is doing is very helpful for developing future policy on carbon reduction and knowing what the impact on those industries will be. The collection of energy production data will remain a key component of this act to inform government on energy flows across the Australian economy and to underpin the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics energy statistics.

Another important aspect of this bill is that it allows for the review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of decisions made by the Greenhouse and Energy Data Officer not to register an audit under the act. As well, there are provisions in relation to the registration of auditors. This is clearly an important and necessary control measure. This bill also gives the GEDO the authority to audit entities who report under section 20 of the act and clarifies and increases powers in relation to requirements for the preparation, conduct and reporting of audits. This bill allows for regulations to be made requiring the results of the greenhouse energy audits to be published. Clearly, transparency and public knowledge are a very important aspect of this bill.

The amendments are based on feedback from stakeholders received during consultations back in 2008. The majority of stakeholders agreed that the audit framework would need to be strengthened in order to better support the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System and underpin robust reporting for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. This is evidence of a thorough consultative process and clear evidence that the Rudd government is listening to key stakeholders. We will continue to engage with key stakeholders on these matters. The Rudd government has made a commitment to further consultation on the draft regulations. Yet again Labor is leading in this debate and yet again we are listening to that feedback from our stakeholders.

I would like to conclude on this point. We have seen debate in the media in more recent times on some fairly flimsy reporting that the coalition and others have produced. I had a look at that report today, and clearly the coalition cannot be taken seriously on these matters. I commend this bill to the House.

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