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

I am advised that my reading of the words was correct. An example for why you might want the minister to have the power to revoke would be if there were a change in the international accounting rules such that continuation of the particular methodology without changing it would potentially expose the taxpayer to financial risk. Obviously, once we sign up to a target under Kyoto or any subsequent arrangements we have to ensure that what we do in Australia is capable of beating that target. In addition, we can do things voluntarily. If there were a change in that boundary you would want to alter the situation domestically pretty quickly; otherwise, you might be exposing taxpayers to risk. You would then want to enable the committee to go back and say, ‘Now the international framework has changed’—possibly for the better; that may well be the case—‘and we will propose a different determination for the minister.’

Another issue where you might want the minister to be able to revoke may be if there were an ecological or biodiversity issue which had not been considered. Obviously, these are public decisions and I am sure they would be the subject of a significant amount of scrutiny. The architecture of what is being put before the Committee of the Whole does seek and build in a very substantial amount of consultation and transparency. It is a reasonably strict provision that says a minister can only change or amend a determination on the advice of the expert committee. That is intended to give farmers and others who are able to participate in the land use sector opportunities and the certainty that this is not going to be under the vagaries of some political process. That is the intention.