Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

ISTER (—) (): Thank you very much, Senator Waters. The government, as you know, is committed to implementing recommendation 8 of the Independent Review of Australian Carbon Credit Units in full. That would be done by the Clean Energy Regulator, consistent with the review's recommendation that the CER should continue to be responsible for project monitoring, compliance and enforcement.

As Professor Chubb noted in his recent statement, 'Where projects do not meet the requirements of the method or of the scheme, the Clean Energy Regulator has the processes and the authority to act, to make adjustments to projects, to restratify CEAs, to pause credits or to cancel projects.' Professor Chubb also noted in that statement that the CER can, and does, use existing provisions to address project noncompliance.

The government will direct the Clean Energy Regulator not to issue future credits to human induced regeneration projects until the regulator is satisfied that the project complies with recommendation 8 of the review. The government will also direct the regulator to prioritise the integrity of these projects by appointing independent auditors in relation to human induced regeneration project gateway reviews. That would be under section 215 of the existing act. These checks would ensure that vegetation in the project area is growing as expected and as required by the method and the Carbon Farming Initiative, or CFI, rule.

Senator Waters, you asked how many existing projects this affects. It is as many as 371, but we have no reason to believe these projects aren't in compliance with the criteria set out in recommendation 8. In a strict answer to your question, it is 371.