Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senators for their comments and contributions to the Energy Legislation Amendment Bill 2006, not that they had anything to do with the legislation—but we do come to expect that. The bill will in fact amend part IIIA of the Trade Practices Act 1974 to ensure that two greenfields incentives for the investment in new pipelines—which were passed by the South Australian parliament on 8 June 2006—can function properly. The bill assists with encouraging new pipeline developments to meet Australia’s increasing demands for natural gas.

In relation to Senator Allison’s amendment to the legislation, the government will not be supporting the amendment. In fact, we have a body that looks after the issues that Senator Allison was looking to deal with. That body is the Ministerial Council on Energy which was established in 2001 by the Council of Australian Governments, and that body is the national policy and governance body for the national energy market. That body essentially looks at all of the issues that Senator Allison is addressing in her amendment. We will not be supporting the amendment and I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question negatived.

Original question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.