Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The incorporated speech read as follows—

I rise in support of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Amendment Bill 2008.

The Australian Government is committed to reducing greenhouse emissions and robust, accurate and reliable data is essential to achieving this goal in the most efficient and effective way possible.

The spirit of this bill reflects the spirit of this Government – one of accountability and commitment regarding the considerable challenge of climate change.

This bill also reflects our spirit of openness and transparency.

It is designed to remove red tape and duplication and improve clarity in the reporting of corporate energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

It will also reduce the number of reports that businesses are required to submit under the current patchwork of greenhouse and energy programs across Australia.

The bill also will ultimately give the public better access to information on corporate energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, by expanding the range of information which can be published by the government.

Therefore, this bill will result in a more accurate and open national greenhouse and energy reporting system.

It will achieve this by streamlining the administration of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 through various minor amendments.

These amendments will not have a budgetary impact and do not increase the load on industry – in fact, they are designed to simplify the regulatory burden and improve flexibility when it comes to the registration of corporations under the Act.

Corporations exceeding set thresholds are required to register under the system. They are required also to supply their energy and emissions data.

Under the changes proposed by this bill, a corporation that reasonably expects it will in future, meet an energy or emissions threshold listed in the Act, can apply for registration ahead of meeting the threshold.

While flexibility is a feature of the bill’s changes, it will not prove a soft touch regarding the disclosure of information on corporate emissions, energy use and production.

It will make sure investors and the public can access information on both direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions of a corporation – otherwise known as scope 1 and scope 2 emissions – rather than just a single total.

This change has been added as a result of public consultation, and makes clear whether a company’s emissions are mainly direct or indirect.

As well as their emissions profile being disclosed, corporations will be able to reveal publicly the methods used to measure their emissions – and the accuracy rating of these methods.

This will remove any questions over the reliability of the data released.

Further insurance comes in the form of a new requirement that external audits not only cover a corporation itself, but also extend to members of its group.

After all, the accuracy of this data gathered by the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System is crucial, as it will facilitate future policymaking on energy and greenhouse issues.

However, the transparency of reporting under the present system isn’t the only aspect addressed in this bill.

Duplication of reporting is a significant consideration.

Currently the states, territories and the Commonwealth each have greenhouse gas and energy programs with corporate reporting requirements, meaning there is doubling up.

Therefore, a goal of the new system will be to eradicate this duplication by centrally storing data which may serve the needs of governments across Australia – and the Government will work with the states and territories through COAG to achieve this.

With the passing of this bill, the system also will be a foundation for the introduction of an emissions-trading scheme and will help Australia meet its international reporting responsibilities.

In a nutshell, this bill aims to simplify, clarify and make more effective the administration of Australia’s greenhouse gas and energy reporting system.

Therefore I commend it to the Senate.