Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I might follow with some questions of my own in relation to the legislation. Obviously, as I mentioned earlier, the government is asking the Senate to pass this legislation to take the first step towards developing carbon capture and storage in the ocean, which, in turn, is designed to facilitate new fossil fuel projects—or, potentially, depleted fields that are next to existing operations—to attempt to offset their emissions. I have three areas of questions. The first is in relation to what liability the government and taxpayers will hold for any CCS project undertaken offshore, whether it's in domestic or foreign waters. Maybe we'll start with domestic waters, considering that you have four companies interested in importing other countries' carbon pollution. What liability will the Australian taxpayer have for these projects?