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

Senator Duniam, I appreciate your interest in understanding this, but I think that you're failing to contemplate the actual amendment before you or the material that's been provided to you in the EM. In the unlikely event that a change of this kind was required and the minister did commence a consultation, the EM sets out what would happen, and I'll take you to paragraph 17, which says:

If the requirement applies, the Secretary would be required to advise the Minister that they are so satisfied, and the Minister would be required to undertake public consultation as to whether the Safeguard Rules should be amended to ensure that they achieve that object and the content of any such amendments; and if they are satisfied that the Safeguard Rules need to be amended to achieve the second object of the NGER Act, amend the Safeguard Rules.

It's really clear. It would be a consultation process aligned with any other consultation process undertaken by government.

The government, I think, has demonstrated our commitment to working in a really orderly and straightforward way with business. We've undertaken extended consultation, there have been papers, there have been round tables. We would expect to work with business in the ordinary way. I am surprised that you want to go down this path. Your government was characterised by an utterly chaotic approach to decision-making. The material before you today reflects a very, very thorough policy process engaging a very wide range of stakeholders. Any future policy process would, I imagine, look quite similar.