Sue Lines (President) Share this | Hansard source

Senators, in accordance with the resolution just agreed to, the time for the consideration of various bills has expired. I will now put the questions before the chair and all remaining stages of the bills. I will first deal with the Net Zero Economy Authority Bill 2024 and the related bill, starting with the second reading amendment to the Net Zero Economy Authority Bill 2024, circulated by the opposition. The question is that the opposition's second reading amendment on sheet 2700 be agreed to.

Opposition's circulated amendment—

Omit all words after "that", substitute "the Senate:

(a) acknowledges that the Net Zero Economy Authority is a long-held union wish list item that masks itself as being an Authority for the regions and for the net zero transition, but is really another Canberra bureaucracy that:

(i) adds another level of federal government duplication by mimicking the role of the CEFC and ARENA by 'facilitating new investment in the net zero transition',

(ii) significantly overlaps with existing enterprise agreements, industrial obligations, and localised transition plans with its Energy Industry Jobs Plan,

(iii) gives unions access to the personal information of the employees of closing coal and gas-fired power stations, as well as the personal information of the employees of the businesses in commercial relationships with closing coal and gas-fired power stations, and

(iv) aims to centrally-plan employment opportunities for the employees of closing coal and gas-fired power stations without guarantees that such employment opportunities would leave employees better off than their current employment; and

(b) recognises that as coal-fired power stations close, zero-emissions nuclear technology will provide well-paid employment opportunities and economic security for generations in rural, regional, and remote communities".