Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Amendment Bill 2009, which seems strangely overshadowed by the details presented by the foreign minister. Obviously, the Kokoda region has a significant place in the Australian psyche because of the role it played in changing the course of history back in World War II and because so many Australians from the Prime Minister down have made the pilgrimage to look at the defence of Northern Australia that took place on the Kokoda track in World War II.

I echo the concerns expressed by the foreign minister in terms of the nine people who are missing. When we heard the news today in question time, obviously, so many of us thought of the people we know who had done that trek. So many of us know someone who could have been in that plane. It was particularly shocking to hear the news. As I said, I am speaking on the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Amendment Bill, but my prayers are certainly with the families of those nine missing people.

This bill before the House is another step in my long struggle to look after my great-grandchildren. I should point out that I will return to this goal later in my talk. It is also a part of the ALP’s struggle to look after my great-grandchildren. The bill before the House deals with the voluntary transfer of reporting obligations of facilities currently caught by the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007, the NGER Act, over to the new provisions outlined in the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

The legislation before the House particularly has relevance for entities such as a coalmine that is run by a contract mining company. With my background in the mining sector, I am very aware of how often that happens. The people that do the exploration may on-sell that exploration permit to a minerals development licence, to another company, and then maybe an international company or a large Australian company will take over the process and even outsource that. An APESMA document that came across my desk the other day talked about the number of mining companies up in Queensland, say, where they are not necessarily employed by the company that owns the mine but instead the business has been outsourced, such as the Coppabella Mine, which is outsourced to Roche Highwall Mining Pty Ltd, or Thiess, which operate in the Burton Mine, the Collinsville, the Foxleigh, the Oaky Creek open cut and the South Walker Creek. There are numerous examples where this happens. It also happens in the oil and gas industry, especially with pipeline operations where sometimes the running of the entity is outsourced to another commercial entity.

Under this legislation all reporting and record-keeping obligations and compliance measures under the NGER Act will be formalised by the introduction of the reporting transfer certificate concept, or the RTC concept. It is good to have a couple of TLAs, or three-letter acronyms, thrown into the House. I know there is a real shortage of acronyms in this House, so I am happy to be able to contribute a couple more. The RTC concept will be a short-term measure until the introduction of the CPRS and RTCs will be cancelled on 30 June 2011. They will be replaced by the liability transfer certificates, or the LTCs. Sunsetting the RTCs is important as, while they do not attract any financial ability, under the CPRS legislation LTCs will attract financial liability.

Obviously, all good governments, all sensible governments, avoid red tape. The legislation before the chamber will reduce administration and economic costs on industry because there will be consistency in the terminology, the concepts and the rules between the existing NGER Act and the future reporting arrangements.

It is all very well to stand here in the chamber and discuss sensible climate change legislation, but I feel it is a bit like ensuring that the table settings are just perfect on the last night of the Titanic. Why? Because there is obviously something else happening. If we look to the Titanic as a metaphor—and I note that all the people in this chamber are well read, learned and literarily inclined, so I am going to look at—

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