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

Senator Pocock, I have given you, I think, a relatively expansive answer about the overall posture that the government has taken in relation to discussions we have with Pacific colleagues about decarbonisation here, in the Pacific and across the Indo-Pacific, and I don't intend to add to that. In terms of your second question, I am not in receipt of any representations from Pacific nations in relation to this legislation. You'd appreciates that there are quite a number of ministers in the government who interact with Pacific colleagues—and a very wide range of Pacific colleagues. I'm not in a position to provide a comprehensive answer about every discussion that may have ever taken place in this regard.

Can I also indicates that in your longer contribution prior to getting to the questions, you went to effectively canvassing your amendments on sheet 2151, which you have circulated and I understand intend to move when the chamber decides to deal with the amendment that we are presently considering. Your amendment narrows the scope of the bill so that the London protocol would only apply to some projects, not all project. I want to indicate that the government doesn't support the approach you suggest. Aside from anything else, it would prevent us from meeting our obligations under the London protocol, which is a treaty that is established to protect the environment and ensure that any project that is undertaken is assessed consistent with the robust environmental tests that are established under that internationally agreed protocol.

It's also the case, of course, that our government has already legislated for reducing Australia's emissions under the safeguard mechanism. That is a piece of legislation that was supported by Senator Pocock and by the Greens political party. We also have legislation that deals with the assessment and approval of any new project through the EPBC Act. As you will be aware, Senator Pocock, government is working to improve this legislation and protections through our environmental laws for the projects, including any elements of any project that might be outside the scope of a sea dumping permit. The London protocol recognises the benefits in supporting our regional partners in their decarbonisation to transition to net zero.

As I've indicated on many occasions in the course of the debate, before us is a sensible bunch of reforms to regulate a set of activities that do require regulation. I'm surprised that senators interested in environmental protection aren't so interested in this important regulatory project.