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

by leave—I move Australian Greens amendments (39), (45), (51) and (58) on sheet 5786 together:

(39)  Clause 165, page 205 (after line 30), at the end of the clause, add:

        (4)    To avoid doubt, the Minister can at any time vary the transitional assistance provided to an activity under this Part in response to changes in the carbon pricing policies in the economies of foreign competitors of the activity.

(45)  Clause 167, page 207 (after line 18), at the end of the clause, add:

        (4)    Any regulations made under subsection (1) which prescribe a carbon productivity contribution that is to apply to an emissions-intensive trade-exposed activity must not prescribe a contribution rate that is less than 4% per financial year.

(51)  Page 214 (after line 3), at the end of Part 8, add:

Division 5—Review of operation of emissions-intensive trade-exposed assistance program

173D  Review by Productivity Commission of operation of assistance program

        (1)    The Productivity Commission must review and report to the Minister on the operation of the emissions-intensive trade-exposed assistance program.

        (2)    The review and report must be conducted in relation to each of the following periods:

             (a)    the 3-year period commencing 1 July 2010;

             (b)    each successive 3-year period.

        (3)    The report in relation to a review must be provided to the Minister within 60 days after the end of the 3-year period to which the review relates.

        (4)    Without limiting the matters to be covered by a review under subsection (1), the review must include an examination of the operation of the program:

             (a)    to determine if there is any evidence of leakage occurring directly as a result of domestic producers facing a higher carbon price relative to major foreign competitors;

             (b)    to assess the impact of any leakage on the level of jobs, production and emissions in the industry experiencing this leakage;

             (c)    to assess the economy-wide case for continuing compensatory payments to individual activities, taking into account the impact of the emissions-intensive trade-exposed assistance program and the Electricity Sector Adjustment Scheme on the competitiveness, job creation, production levels and emissions of other domestic industries;

             (d)    if relevant, to make recommendations about policy options to reduce leakage.

        (5)    The Minister must, within 60 days of receiving a report, review the compensatory payments provided to individual activities under the program and determine whether or not the levels of compensatory payments need to be varied.

        (6)    If the Minister determines under subsection (5) that the levels of compensatory payments to individual activities need to be varied, the Minister must take all reasonable steps to ensure that regulations are made for that purpose within 120 days of having received the relevant report.

        (7)    Regulations made under subsection (6) must not take effect until the beginning of the financial year next after the financial year in which the regulations are made.

        (8)    If the Minister determines under subsection (5) that the levels of compensatory payments do not need to be varied, the Minister must, within 5 sitting days of making that determination, cause to be tabled in each House of the Parliament a written statement setting out the Minister’s reasons for making the determination.

        (9)    If:

             (a)    the Minister determines under subsection (5) that the levels of compensatory payments do need to be varied and regulations are made for that purpose under subsection (6); and

             (b)    on a particular day (the tabling day), a copy of the regulations is tabled before a House of the Parliament under section 38 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003;

then, on or as soon as practicable after the tabling day, the Minister must cause to be tabled before that House a written statement setting out the Minister’s reasons for making the determination under subsection (5).

(58)  Clause 353, page 439 (lines 5 to 8), omit “having regard to the general principle that industry should be given at least 5 years notice of material changes to the provision of assistance under the program”.

These follow on from the compensation to the energy-intensive trade-exposed industries. The first amendment, for example, is:

To avoid doubt, the Minister can at any time vary the transitional assistance provided to an activity under this Part in response to changes in the carbon pricing policies in the economies of foreign competitors of the activity.

In other words, there will be no notice period for changes to EITE compensation. It is a good opportunity to also get the minister to reaffirm the government’s position. I thought that we had done this the other day, but when I read through the transcript it was not clear. I would ask for the minister to clarify this.

In terms of the EITE compensation, we do not think that there is any reason why a minister ought not be able to immediately change the EITE compensation when foreign competitors change their position. That should be something that is able to be done immediately. I asked the government about the five per cent to 25 per cent target. It is a total hypothetical. I recognise that it is the government’s policy not to go beyond a 25 per cent cut in emissions below 2000 levels by 2020. But if the government did adopt a 30 per cent target, for example, is it possible to change the gateways and caps in the CPRS without incurring any compensation liability? I ask the minister to be clear on this. I thought that the minister had said yes to that the other day, but the transcript does not make that clear. I want to ask the minister to put that on the record while we are discussing this.