Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to sum up the debate on the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Amendment Bill 2014. Again, I think the speakers who have contributed to the debate—the members for Brand, Mitchell, Moreton and Makin—for their contributions.

The Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Amendment Bill 2014 amends provisions in the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Act 2003 relating to the imposition of an annual titles administration levy and environment plan levy.

The National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator, NOPTA, and the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority, NOPSEMA, are both funded on a cost-recovery basis and perform important functions in Australia's offshore petroleum regulatory regime. NOPTA assists and advises the joint authority and the responsible Commonwealth minister on titles administration matters. NOPSEMA regulates safety and environmental matters.

Amendments in this bill ensure appropriate resourcing by making necessary adjustments to the levy arrangements. Firstly, it provides that NOPTA has the ability to collect a full-year annual titles administration levy for titles in force for less than one year. Its equity is ensured by the insertion of a regulation-making power, in a consequential amendment in the amendment bill to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006, to allow for the refund or remittal of part of that levy as appropriate.

Further amendments in this bill extend NOPSEMA' s ability to collect a levy for the submission and revision of environmental plans and related ongoing compliance activities. This is directly related to recent regulatory reform allowing an applicant for a title, as opposed to a titleholder, to submit an environmental plan to NOPSEMA for certain activities, delivering a more streamlined and efficient process. Such measures demonstrate this government's commitment to streamlining and reducing regulatory burden through the principles of efficiency and fairness while maintaining a high-level commitment to environmental and safety matters.

Appropriate cost recovery by both NOPTA and NOPSEMA is critical to ensure these entities are resourced effectively to administer the offshore petroleum regime in the context of a high-hazard industry. I commend this bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

See this speech in context