Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

Anybody who was following the debate that we had last week on this would have heard me provide ad nauseam the definitions applied in this legislation to make sure that we do have extremely tight safeguards in place. As this is the second attempt to try to amend out of the legislation by one means or another the provisions around native forest wood waste, I will speak very quickly to indicate the government do not support the proposal of the Australian Greens. We are simply seeking to reinstate the effective regulations that were in place pre November 2011 that had been in place for a period of 10 years, that provided good safeguards to ensure that native forest wood waste would in fact be able to be used for renewable energy purposes without having any detrimental impact on the operation of native forests.

To be very brief, the conditions that are in place ensure that the biomass must arise from a harvesting activity where the primary purpose is not energy production. The biomass must be either a by-product or waste product of a harvesting operation approved under relevant planning and approval processes and that meets a high-value test or a by-product of a harvesting operation carried out in accordance with ecologically sustainable forest management principles. The biomass must meet ecologically sustainable forest management principles in a regional forest agreement or, if no such agreement is in place, meet equivalent principles to the satisfaction of the minister.

The Clean Energy Regulator is tasked to undertake a rigorous assessment of applications for power-station accreditation. When it comes to using such waste in determining eligibility for native forest wood waste as a renewable energy source, the regulator will verify that, if a forest management framework under which the harvesting operation is conducted is a regional forest agreement, the harvesting is being carried out in accordance with the ecologically sustainable management principles in that agreement; and if the harvesting operation is not conducted under an RFA, that the harvesting is carried out in accordance with ecologically sustainable forest management principles equivalent to those of an RFA to the satisfaction of the minister.

The power-stations provision of the ecologically sustainable forest management principles statement must be made related to the wood waste. The use of wood waste for energy production is not the primary purpose of the harvesting operation. The regulator will verify the existence of the sawmill and its operating licence and, where applicable, that the high-value test is satisfied and that there is an auditable trail of documentation in place from the source of the wood waste to the power station.

The regulator will be empowered to undertake sample checks, including on the registration number of wood waste trucks and the weighbridge documents for supply of wood waste, and can also conduct spot audits of power stations that use wood waste for energy production. Once the power station is accredited then and only then will they be able to create large-scale generation certificates.

Quite simply, there is a robust framework in place. The robust framework that is in place mirrors what operated successfully for more than a decade which was defended time and time again by the Australian Labor Party, including Senator Wong, during that decade which we are simply seeking to restore such that wood waste is not otherwise potentially left to rot rather than being used for a good purpose such as energy generation.