Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Under your safeguard mechanism, big emitters can buy as many offsets as they want. There is no ceiling to the offsets polluters can buy. The cost of those offsets will be less than 0.1 per cent of their profits, giving polluters no reason to cut their emissions. Will you concede that there is a flaw in your lack of ceilings?

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

I thank the honourable member for her question and her engagement with her colleagues on this issue and further engagement to come this afternoon. But I do not accept the premise of the honourable member's question—I do not. It is case that the government is allowing access to offsets in the safeguard mechanism reforms—absolutely we are, as we should. This is an ambitious plan, and, when you're engaging in an ambitious plan, you need to give industry the flexibility to implement that plan. I would invite the honourable member—and I say with all due respect 'the honourable member'—if people are going to argue for a cap on the use of carbon credits, they need to explain how hard-to-abate sectors will achieve the targets. How will cement achieve its targets with the technology that is currently emerging and is not yet available without access to ACCUs and carbon credits?

When you are applying this reform to 215 of the country's biggest emitters, with varying degrees of technology available to them, it is absolutely vital to give them access to the carbon credits. What this framework does is it provides the incentive to firms to invest in abatement as it emerges. There are some sectors with good abatement technology available to them today. There are other sectors where it will be available in the next couple of years, and there are other sectors that will be hard to abate for some time to come. Our regime implements that. I say to the honourable member and all honourable members and all senators that amendments and suggestions and improvements are fine. The most important thing is that the package passes the parliament because then we will have the framework in place, not only for today but for years to come.