Senate debates

Monday, 30 November 2009

Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Australian Climate Change Regulatory Authority Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Charges — Customs) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Charges — Excise) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Charges — General) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS Fuel Credits) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS Fuel Credits) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Excise Tariff Amendment (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Customs Tariff Amendment (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) Bill 2009 [No. 2]; Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Amendment (Household Assistance) Bill 2009 [No. 2]

In Committee

See the whole debate « Previous speaker Next speaker »

7:47 pm

 

Photo of Penny WongPenny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I move government amendment (39) on sheet BE242:

(39)  Page 453 (after line 11), after clause 374A, insert:

374B  Authority’s power to require further information

Applications

        (1)    If:

             (a)    a person makes an application to the Authority under this Act; and

             (b)    the Authority exercises a power, under another provision of this Act, to require the applicant to give the Authority further information in connection with the application;

the Authority:

             (c)    must ensure that the further information is relevant to the matter to which the application relates; and

             (d)    must ensure that the power is exercised in a reasonable way.

Requests

        (2)    If:

             (a)    a person makes a request to the Authority under this Act; and

             (b)    the Authority exercises a power, under another provision of this Act, to require the person to give the Authority further information in connection with the request;

the Authority:

             (c)    must ensure that the further information is relevant to the matter to which the request relates; and

             (d)    must ensure that the power is exercised in a reasonable way.

This amendment arises out of concerns which I believe were raised by Senator Brandis about provisions in the bill which enable the authority to request further information in respect of applications. In order to ensure that this power is not abused, the bill is amended to require the authority to request only relevant information and to exercise its powers to seek information in a reasonable way.

Question agreed to.

Bill, as amended, agreed to.

Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009 [No. 2]

Bill—by leave—taken as a whole.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN We will now move to Australian Greens amendments (1) and (3) to (10) on sheet 5862.

Comments

No comments