Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a short contribution to the debate on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Cost Recovery) Bill 2014. I note that this bill was referred to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee together with the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Bilateral Agreement Implementation) Bill 2014, and the committee reported yesterday. That inquiry found serious shortcomings with the bilateral agreement amendment bill and, unfortunately, that bill has not yet been brought on for debate.

The cost recovery amendment bill before us is supported by the opposition. I note from the inquiry that there are only two groups opposed to the bill: the Greens, and the mining industry together with the Business Council of Australia—an unlikely alliance, of course, for very different reasons.

At the hearing we had the opportunity to question representatives from the Minerals Council and the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies. Despite being the champions of the one-stop shop reform, and despite the hearing being held in their home town of Melbourne, the Business Council refused the committee's offer to appear at the hearing.

At the hearing, when asking the miners about cost recovery, I noted from their submissions that they were opposed for two general reasons: they wanted general government revenue to finance the environmental approvals process, and they did not like that the cost recovery hit a mining company at the early stage of a project. I then put it to the miners that there was currently a super profits tax in place that contributes to general government revenue and only taxes a miner when they are making a super profit, not when they are in the exploration or investment phases. Based on this logic, I put to the miners this question: would this super profits tax be a fairer way of paying for the management of regulations than cost recovery? The answers were entirely predictable. Both organisations did not like cost recovery because it hit their members' bottom line and they already pay enough tax—those were their words. Both organisations were supportive of the abolition of the super profits tax, with the AMEC noting that it does not affect its members as they are exploration companies, but still noting its opposition. The answer was that general government revenue rather than cost recovery should be used to finance the environmental approvals.

What is striking is that almost no-one else agrees. The Liberal and National parties are in support of cost recovery, through their moving of this bill here today. But the Greens political party are opposed to cost recovery. The Greens' brief dissenting report on the bill highlights the principle of 'regulatory capture' where a regulator which is supposed to act in the public interest is compromised because of relationships developed with those it is charged with regulating. In this case, they refer to the regulator relying on the cost recovery fees to sustain their operations. However, I do not believe this principle holds in this instance because no-one is proposing that cost recovery cover all of the costs of running environmental regulation in the Department of the Environment. For a start, the fees have not been set yet, and the fee structure will be specified in regulation and ministerial determinations. Further, a range of exemptions and waivers will be available for small business in particular, and also for other bodies at the discretion of the minister. Of course, we will need to assess this fee structure and formula once it has been developed, to ensure appropriate cost recovery. At that point, it would be appropriate to compare the resources of the department in environmental regulation with the proposed fee intake to ensure that there are sufficient funds for the management of the output.

At this point I just want to note that I am appalled by the job cuts proposed by Minister Hunt for his department and the broken promises of Mr Hunt and Mr Abbott on a range of environmental protection measures.

I urge the Greens to support the bill and work with the opposition when the ministerial determinations and regulations are handed down, to ensure that they are appropriate.