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

The government will not be supporting this amendment, and I make three points. Senator Birmingham urges us to honour the deal. Well, Senator, the deal is intact. The agreement that the government came to was that, where there was a price on carbon through the CPRS which resulted in the end of the GGAS, we would include existing waste coalmine gas projects above the target, recognising the position that these companies were in. That remains the position, but what you are seeking is a different proposition.

Second, there were some comments made about uncertainty. I would make the point, Senator Birmingham, that if there is uncertainty in the GGAS market as a result of the CPRS, well, you did have the opportunity to provide that in December. But I will leave that point. My third point is this: in this debate we are seeking to balance a range of policy objectives, and one of the things we have to balance is cost to electricity consumers. This is a subsidy. Through this scheme we deliver a subsidy to renewable energy and we do that because it is in the national interest to increase the amount of renewables that are feeding in to the grid. So we consciously set aside a market for those renewables and we say that we are going to make sure that at least 20 per cent of our electricity comes from these sources. But one of the things that we have to balance is ensuring that we do not impose unnecessary costs on electricity consumers.

The amendments to the RET are about unleashing the investment needed to supply renewable energy to Australians and to support the jobs of the future. The proposal to give more money to waste coalmine gas is about increasing the price of power to consumers for a non-renewable energy source and, whilst I understand what the opposition has said on this in relation to, I think, landfill, I agree with Senator Xenophon that there is a policy difference. We did come to an agreement and we will honour that agreement in the event that those circumstances arise.

Question put:

That the amendment (Senator Birmingham’s) be agreed to.