Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I indicate that I will not support the Greens amendment, because I think it is important that there be tradability in any scheme. If it is part of a global solution, we need to have international permits—although Senator Milne is absolutely right: they must be clearly verifiable. She is seeking a higher standard, although I note that the minister has indicated that part of any international agreement requires that verifiability.

My question to the minister arising out of this amendment is this. The minister stressed earlier the importance of certainty of emissions due to a domestic cap; however, does international trading of permits not mean that there can be no certainty over domestic emissions? I am not criticising that, but can the minister verify that? Can the minister confirm that the government will accept the global carbon price determined in international markets and that the domestic cap will not set prices and will not tightly constrain domestic emissions?