Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Hansard source

I indicate that the government is not supporting the amendments circulated by the Greens. We are unable to support them. We really believe that the amendments in these terms will not enhance the scheme and that the requirement for annual reporting will increase costs and deliver limited benefits. Requiring annual public display of a BEEC in a building is also unlikely to deliver significant additional benefits. Enforcement and monitoring of this provision would be difficult, given the form in which the certificate would be created.

The key is that this bill provides information at the point where it is most useful: the time of sale or lease. The government is open to considering further extensions of the scheme in the future. We will be looking at how government buildings not affected by the bill will be handled. The call for government buildings to display a BEEC would also be problematic to implement in these terms. So we do not see any benefits and we do see considerable risks in agreeing to these amendments as presently drafted.

I would like to say that this was non-controversial legislation. We were not expecting to see amendments in the committee stage. It is very difficult to negotiate around these things if we do not get the kind of notice that we need.