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

I think you're aware that this bill has been the subject of extensive consultation. The development of this has been ongoing for a very long period of time. In January this year, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, at Minister Plibersek's request, conducted an inquiry into the 2009 and 2013 amendments. The broad aims of the inquiry were to seek information on the environmental benefits and impacts of the transboundary movement of carbon dioxide streams for the purpose of sub-seabed sequestration; the environmental benefits and impacts of marine geoengineering activity such as ocean fertilisation for scientific research; the international market for carbon dioxide streams; and the interaction of the proposed amendments with greenhouse gas inventories and regulatory reporting systems. A public hearing was held as part of that process on 26 May at Parliament House and was attended by industry, government agencies and an expert in environmental law, and the committee released its report on 13 June 2023. As I think you will know, the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee also conducted an inquiry. It released a report on 22 July 2023 recommending that the bill be passed, with a dissenting report from the Greens political party.