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

Thank you, Senator Cox. Senator Cox, I simply can't accept that a debate that has commenced on Monday and is continuing on Friday could in any way be characterised as ramming something through. I can't explain the actions of previous governments in relation to the London protocol. But I can say, as I have previously, that this legislation has been coming towards the parliament in a reasonably steady way since at least 2020, when it was first considered by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties and these amendments were considered minor treaty actions and recommended for ratification.

I've been quite clear from the outset, too, that the government is interested in regularising all of the arrangements around carbon capture and storage. We were upfront. We've been very upfront about this, and we provided money in the budget to ensure that all of the settings around carbon capture and storage were appropriate and adequate. This is one part of that. We want to make sure that, if there is a transport or a movement of carbon dioxide, there is a regulatory regime that can capture those circumstances and manage it. We think that is the right thing to do for our own policy settings, but we also think it's the right thing to do in terms of our obligations to the international community.