Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the provisions of paragraphs (5) to (8) of standing order 111 not apply to the following bills, allowing them to be considered during this period of sittings:

Clean Energy Bill 2011 and related bills

Steel Transformation Plan Bill 2011.

I table a further statement of reasons justifying the need for these bills to be considered during these sittings. I seek leave to have the statement incorporated into Hansard.

Leave not granted.

Then I shall read out the reasons for urgency:

The Steel Transformation Plan has been negotiated with industry in the context of the introduction of a carbon price and needs to be in place by commencement of the Carbon Price Mechanism. The clean energy legislation package is expected to be introduced around the third week of the 2011 Spring sittings.

Eligible steel industry entities are expected to be covered by the Carbon Price Mechanism from its commencement on 1 July 2012. Funding under the Steel Transformation Plan needs to be available from the beginning of this period in order to ensure adequacy of transitional support to meet the impacts of a carbon price on the steel industry.

It is also necessary that funding be available for steel industry entities in a timely manner to ensure that entities undertaking innovation, investment and productivity which result in emissions abatement can effectively reduce costs under the Carbon Price Mechanism.

Passage of enabling legislation in the 2011 Spring sittings will provide sufficient time for steel industry entities to prepare systems and procedures for complying with plan and to consider which activities to undertake in order to secure grant funding.

Sufficient time will also be needed to establish systems to administer the Plan and engage effectively and efficiently with steel industry entities covered, and to establish any additional systems required to deliver grant funding.

Given the procedural motion that has already passed, we have the hours in place. We are now proposing to exempt the bills from the cut-off so that we can, when the message comes across from the House to deal with the legislation, have the debate in relation to the substantive matter in the period set aside. Again, I do not intend to go through the substantive issues. It is clear that the opposition have continued to maintain their complete opposition to the procedural motions and to the substantive motions and will continue to argue and filibuster in this place. Given that, there seems to be little point to extending this any further. We do have other legislation that we need to get on with today. There are bills on the Notice Paper that we should deal with, so on that basis I move:

That the question be now put.

Question put.

The Senate divided. [10:19]

(The Deputy President—Senator Parry)

Senator Feeney did not vote, to compensate for the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Coonan.

Question agreed to.