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

It's no secret that the government has sought to consult on the implementation of our reforms to the safeguard mechanism. I can step Senator Duniam through the timetable if he needs assistance. In 2021, on 3 December, we announced very publicly we would reform the safeguard mechanism as part of the Powering Australia Plan. On 1 July, when we'd formed a government, we appointed an independent panel to review the integrity of ACCUs. On 8 August 2022, we initiated consultation on the safeguard mechanism reform, and there's a paper that's still available on the website if you would like to review it. On 10 October 2022, we opened consultation on the Safeguard Mechanism (Crediting) Amendment Bill 2023. On 30 November 2022, we introduced that bill into the parliament. On 9 January, we released the independent review of ACCUs that was undertaken by Professor Chubb. On 10 January, we released a further paper which outlined the proposed reforms which form the substance of the bill before you. On 27 March, following discussions with a range of stakeholders, we released updated reforms.

Those consultations were extensive, as I have indicated in the contribution I made before. They covered businesses, other community stakeholders and parliamentarians, as you would expect them to do. I find it surprising that the opposition objects to a government that is willing to work across the parliament to seek support for reforms. The very great shame, I think, for the opposition is that they dealt themselves out of this process from the very beginning. They said no before they even saw the legislation, which has become the hallmark of the opposition under Mr Dutton. So we're not really going to take lectures about processes of engagement, because this is an opposition that has essentially refused to engage with a very significant economic reform. They have chosen not to engage. They said no. We've taken the responsible route to engage all those stakeholders across the chamber who have an interest and all those stakeholders outside of the parliament. The arrangements that were made very publicly by Minister Bowen on 27 March reflect that very broad consultation.