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

The government will not be supporting these amendments. Senator Birmingham quoted my contribution to the chamber about the additional support, particularly to aluminium, that the government was offering in the context of the RET and CPRS. I want to say very clearly the government’s commitment to those arrangements stands if there is a price on carbon through the CPRS. That was an arrangement we negotiated with the opposition. We also engaged closely with various parts of industry, including the aluminium industry. That engagement reflected their view, put strongly to us, about the cumulative costs of both a price of carbon and the renewable energy target.

Let us also remember that the aluminium industry and other highly emissions-intensive trade-exposed industries receive 90 per cent assistance under the RET in respect of any RET liability above 9½ thousand gigawatt hours. In relation to moderately emissions intensive industries, those industries receive 60 per cent above the 9½ thousand gigawatt hours.

I again say we spent quite a substantial amount of time as a government, in the context of both the CPRS and the renewable energy target discussions, engaging with industry on this issue. We remain committed to the agreement we entered into, which is the one Senator Birmingham referenced. His difficulty, however, is that it is actually not applicable today because there is no price on carbon because the CPRS did not pass. The additional assistance being sought by the opposition’s amendments is effectively to put in place the additional assistance which was agreed to by the government in the context of the passage of the CPRS.

I also want to make this point: whether it is in relation to waste coalmine gas or these amendments, the opposition is putting forward amendments that reflect a willingness to see higher electricity prices. If there is a greater level of exemption under the renewable energy target, the target does not change. It just means the costs are borne by other users, and other users include households. That is part of the balance here, and on this issue we respectfully suggest that the opposition has got the balance wrong and is seeking to provide additional support that reflects an agreement in relation to passage of the CPRS and a cumulative cost increase, but that is no longer the case.

Essentially the opposition are asking other users of electricity to additionally cross-subsidise the emissions-intensive trade-exposed sector, and they are asking them to do that in relation to the renewable energy target component that was their policy. For some reason, you are now actually seeking to provide greater levels of assistance than you provided in government under that component of the renewable energy target policy. For those reasons, the government is not supporting these amendments.