Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I accept that it is possible to measure the capacity that a site would have. What is not possible to measure is the likelihood of it staying there. That is my issue. I am fully aware that you can measure the size of a cavity and you can determine the volume of the CO2, once liquefied, in that particular cavity. What you cannot determine is how you are going to keep it there. I am interested to know how you are going to monitor these cement plugs, or whatever they are called, over time underneath the ocean.

When I come to the one year and the five years, I am concerned that we are talking about 15 sites. But we are going to need a lot more than 15 sites for the volumes that we are talking about in the foreseeable future, because we are only talking about coal-fired power stations for the next 20 or 30 years. That is a huge volume of greenhouse gases, and I would argue that those 15 or so sites are nowhere near what would be necessary in that time frame. My concern is that the minister is only going to be as well informed as the companies that make the greenhouse gases. Contrary to the argument, you are saying that no company is going to put it forward until they can prove that there is no leakage. On the contrary, I think that, now that the principle is established that the polluter does not pay and that the liability will be shifted to the taxpayer and the community as soon as this period ends, there is a strong argument for them to get their closure certificate as fast as possible so that they can wash their hands of the liability. As long as you take away the liability from them, there is an incentive for them to get it off their books as fast as possible. To give them an incentive to do the right thing, you must make them fully liable. That is where I have a totally reverse point of view from the government and the opposition. There is no evidence anywhere that people who have been excused of liability are more responsible than people who have to bear full liability.