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

I've already answered the question by explaining to you that the government's motivation in bringing forward the legislation is to meet our obligations as a party to the London protocol, to participate in global efforts to establish regulatory frameworks that are predictable and certain, and to meet environmental standards that have been agreed with our global partners. I think your question and its very long preamble seek to draw a link between the safeguard mechanism—which imposes stringent obligations on large projects, including gas projects—and carbon capture and storage. In many ways, that's quite straightforward, isn't it? The IEA makes it very clear that CCS will be a part of the broad mix of technologies necessary to make it to net zero. Those broad conclusions are echoed by the IPCC and most other international energy analyses of our potential pathways to net zero, and Australia doesn't dispute this.

I guess the question, which will be a product of the changing role and cost profiles of different technologies, is which of the various technologies available to us will prevail in what the relative weight of different technologies on our path to net zero looks and feels like. We are focused, in our role as government, on making sure that projects that are investable and that are deemed to be commercial by proponents have regulatory certainty now that they face these emissions constraints that you referred to in your preamble. Ratifying the London protocol's amendments is part of our broader approach to CCS and CCUS regulation. It's pragmatic and sensible. We made $12 million available in the last budget to review the environmental management regime for offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas storage activities.

This review seeks to ensure that the regulatory regime for offshore CCS projects appropriately manages risks to the marine environment and to workforce health and safety. The review will identify opportunities to more effectively plan for and regulate the decommissioning of offshore CCS projects. It will look at regulatory requirements relating to long-term liability and monitoring of sequestered carbon dioxide and will examine opportunities to provide greater regulatory and administrative certainty and efficiency for carbon capture and storage projects in Commonwealth waters. So if your question is, 'Does the government consider that CCS may play a role in supporting covered entities to meet their obligations under the safeguard agreement?' the answer is yes.