David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Reform (Closing the Hole in the Ozone Layer) Bill 2022 and the related bills. In the whole, they progress Australia's great achievements in limiting damage to the ozone layer. Before I proceed with my comments on the bills, I would like to explain for the benefit of some of the members and anyone who is listening, a bit about ozone and a bit about CFCs and hydrofluorocarbons as well.

Ozone or trioxygen—triple oxygen—exists mainly in the higher areas of the earth's atmosphere called the stratosphere, which is five to 10 kilometres above the earth. It is formed when ordinary oxygen or dioxygen—two oxygen molecules—plus ultraviolet light that comes into the earth's atmosphere from the sun, plus lightning, reacts and forms trioxygen, or O3. That is the area where the greatest amount of ozone exists. Up there it works like a radiation shield. It does prevent us from getting much more sunburn and damaging skin cancers. Over time, if it reduces again, as was noted in the 1970s, we will be getting many more skin cancers and much more sunburn.

Lower down to earth in the troposphere—which is the area that we exist in, below five kilometres—in the air that we breathe, ozone is in the minority, thank goodness, because it is well documented to be quite toxic. When particular matter from burning fossil fuels, coal, oil and diesel, all those things combine with the small amount of ozone in the troposphere, it mixes and creates what we know as smog. The ozone part of the smog damages respiratory membranes, like the air sacs in your lungs. People with chronic bronchitis, asthma, emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD get damaged. You see that in odd events where there's huge electrical activity with a lot of smog, you get huge outbreaks of respiratory illness.

We all know that the world got together and the Montreal Protocol came into place because scientists observed that man-made chemicals, CFCs or chlorofluorocarbons, were destroying the ozone layer. That seminal article in nature led to collective actions around the globe, and Australia signed up. Our Prime Minister at the time, Bob Hawke, and Graham Richardson, who everyone has seen in the media over the years, signed us up. The rest is history.

I really want to stress that ozone depletion by man-made substances—CFCs, which have been superseded by hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs, which are equally toxic—is a totally different chemistry and phenomenon. HFCs and CFCs do not exist in the atmosphere. CO2 and methane do naturally occur in our atmosphere. To try and equate the initiative to get rid of ozone-destroying chemicals that man makes is quite different from the phenomenon of global warming. They are different to trying to restrict things that actually exist in the atmosphere by nature.

The Montreal Protocol has been updated. I mentioned that, initially, 24 nations signed on. Now there are 198, including Australia, obviously. In summary, around the world, we have saved probably 2½ million lives, at least, from the ravages of skin cancers of various sorts. The estimates are that we've reduced the number of cases of skin cancer by about 450 million cases, at least, because of this initiative.

This bill, which updates the laws and regulations regarding our efforts to limit HFCs as well as the existing ban on CFCs, is quite timely. It was introduced on the anniversary date of that protocol being signed up. Australia's action has been quite significant and will continue to contribute to our efforts to improve the emissions reduction target set by the now government for 2030. HFCs should be reduced by about 86 per cent in total by that time.

In the former government, my colleague the former member for Brisbane, as the assistant minister for waste reduction and environmental management, introduced similar bills to what we're seeing here today, which update Australia's protocols and regulations that enforce the reduction of ozone destruction. We have a really good record—and I just want to put on the record that the former government attempted to do this, but that introduced legislation had lapsed and this is bringing it back again. There are many commonsense measures. The programs and the requirements enforced through licence conditions involve banning the import of bulk gas in non-refillable containers. Think about how widespread refrigeration is. For many of the businesses involved in refrigeration, air conditioners, food storage and food transport—and even in your own house, in your own fridge—this sort of legislation is really critical. It is ensuring the chemicals we're using are safely keeping our food fresh and long-living and all those other things. But we can always improve regulation.

This bill will enable some improvements that clarify the license and exemption requirements, including changes to make the legislation easier to understand and reduce unintentional non-compliance. It also allows extra time for businesses who need to make their declarations to submit reports and more time to pay levies. This will reduce the regulatory burden on business. The bill also reforms the compliance and enforcement approach for individuals as well as companies. The offence and penalty structure has been made more flexible and introduces the option of license suspension rather than the immediate cancellation of a licence to produce or import these substances. It also amends the import levy process. It will be done by regulation rather than legislation, which makes the operation of our ozone protection and synthetic greenhouse system much more flexible.

The take-home message for people in Australia is that we are a proud participant in this process which is keeping the ozone up there in the stratosphere, where we like it, rather than getting it down into the troposphere which is our part of the atmosphere that humans and vegetation interact with. Ozone isn't all bad; it does provide some benefits for sterilising and other chemical processes as long as it doesn't get destroyed by those processes that I've outlined. I commend this bill and the amendments to the House. Thank you.

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