Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question and her interest in this issue and her engagement. As the honourable member knows, the safeguard mechanism covers 215 existing facilities and will cover any facility that is new, of any type, which emits more than 100,000 tonnes of emissions each year. Indeed, that is part of the opportunity and the challenge of getting the policy design right, because it is important to capture every single facility, old and new, of varying types. And it is important to ensure that there is a framework in place for emissions reduction. I don't care whether it's an old facility, a longstanding existing facility or a new facility, of any type. It is also important to reflect the complexity of the different types and the types of abatement that are possible—and the honourable member refers to this. As I said yesterday in the House, some facilities have on-site abatement technology available to them now; others do not. Others have it emerging at different rates, and that's why the use of offsets is very important.

In relation to how new entrants are treated, I'd just make this point. At the moment, the emissions from facilities that are projected to join would be around 38 million tonnes. We can reduce that very, very substantially. If the reforms pass, there will be a constraint on emissions from new facilities. If the reforms don't pass, there will be no constraints on emissions from new facilities—or old facilities. That's the choice before the parliament next week.

In relation to design elements, I look forward to updating the public and the House and the Senate with the revised regulation. I said, when I released the draft on 9 January, that I would take advice and consult. There has been nine months of consultation, two different consultation papers, many hundreds of submissions and many, many meetings, including as late as today, between me and various industry groups. I look forward to that advice being reflected in the updated regulation, and I look forward to that regulation receiving the support of the crossbench and people of good faith across the parliament.

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