Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Hansard source

I will respond briefly to Senator Milne. The industry is already worse off. It is worse off because of the uncertainty in the way the GGAS market operates. If there is a challenge here, it is probably the challenge that Senator Milne highlighted, which is to find the means to reconcile the operation of this New South Wales scheme with the operation of the renewable energy target. That reconciliation should not mean that this chamber should at present say to industries like waste coalmine gas, ‘No, we will leave you over there in an uncertain scheme with an uncertain future and an uncertain price, and you can deal with that because we are not going to make room to accommodate you.’ A far better outcome would be to say we will accommodate them here and that we—in particular, the government—will negotiate with the New South Wales government about how they might adjust, fix, wind up or provide certainty, whatever is necessary, to GGAS  to ensure that there is a complementary role for the schemes or that they work together or, indeed, if they do not work together, that either there should be a clear line between them or only one of them should operate. But, at present, the uncertainty of having a scheme that is forecast to close at an unknown end date in New South Wales does not assist an industry like this.

There were government accepted coalition concerns regarding waste coalmine gas last year. I am sure they accepted it in part because there was recognition from their own side. Even Labor Senators Cameron, Feeney, Furner and Pratt had positive recommendations about the inclusion of waste coalmine gas last year when they were looking at this issue. They understand that this energy source, just like other waste energy sources, needs to be treated in an effective way. It may not be a renewable energy in the pure sense that we consider renewable energy, but it is nonetheless a by-product that can be used effectively—is being used effectively—to generate energy. There should be an incentive to make sure that by-product is captured and used rather than leaving it in some sort of limbo land, as would happen if it was left in GGAS.