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

I'll provide an answer for the seventh time, Senator Whish-Wilson, which comprehensively answers the question you're putting to me. The motivation for bringing forward the legislation is to implement the London protocol. It's a policy reform that's been going on for some time. Australia supported both of the amendments that I referred to earlier at the time that they were agreed by the London protocol contracting parties back in 2009 and 2013. Then, in 2020, JSCOT recommended that these were minor treaty actions and that binding treaty action may be taken.

I've also made it clear that the government is in the process of improving and strengthening and clarifying the regulatory arrangements that exist for carbon capture and storage and that the legislation before you is part of a broader suite of actions being undertaken by this government to do that.

It's quite clear that the arrangements we are putting in place support projects of the kind that you describe. It is logically true. What I'm not going to do is comment on comments made by other ministers when I am not in a position to know what was in their minds at the time that they made them, but you may proceed on the basis that the motivation for this is to implement our international obligations and to create a predictable, certain and robust regulatory framework for any projects of this kind that are proposed.