Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

The government will not be supporting this motion. This motion is a political stunt by a party that rejects the science of climate change and seeks to undermine action by businesses getting on with acting to cut pollution and store carbon in our landscape. The reforms to the safeguard mechanism, passed with the support of the Australian Greens and most of the Senate crossbench, have been welcomed by the business community, including the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Industry Group. These reforms provide the policy certainty for companies to invest to decarbonise their facilities.

When our reforms passed on 30 March, the Business Council of Australia stated:

… this is critical progress towards securing a transition that delivers new jobs and new opportunities.

…   …   …

After more than a decade of uncertainty and equivocation employers now have certainty about our emissions targets and how we're going to get there.

The Australian Industry Group also made clear on 30 March:

… the legislation delivers a measure of much-needed certainty that Australia is serious about both its emissions goals and the centrality of competitive industry to achieving them.

On 31 January 2023 the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry urged those opposite to do the right thing for Australia's future and pass the bill, saying:

The business community has been very clear in its support for reforms to the Safeguard Mechanism. This is the best way to secure the planning, investment and innovation that will underpin the decarbonisation of our economy without sacrificing reliability or affordability.

Past failure to deal with this reality has crimped certainty for industry and investors, and left our energy sector in disarray. Australian businesses and households are now paying the price.

On 3 April 2023 Orica made clear:

Orica strongly supports the Government's reforms and strengthening of the Safeguard Mechanism, and we commend the Government's consultative approach and commitment to making this scheme work.

Eighty-two per cent of safeguard facilities, representing around 90 per cent of covered emissions, are already covered by corporate net zero commitments because business knows that reducing emissions is essential to their long-term competitiveness in a global net zero economy.

I might just add: only today I met with senior representatives of Rio Tinto, one of Queensland's major employers. I'm not sure whether Senator Hanson or Senator Roberts have ever bothered to go to Boyne Smelters in Gladstone. Rio Tinto, in partnership with the Queensland government, are investing heavily in renewable and other sources of power for their plant, which employs over 1,000 blue-collar workers in Gladstone, because Rio Tinto understand that their ongoing competitiveness, the ongoing future of those jobs in Gladstone and the thousands of jobs in manufacturing outfits that supply Boyne Smelters, along with other heavy industry in Gladstone, relies on making this transition towards cheaper, cleaner power. Rio Tinto are doing this because they understand that, if they want to be able to sell their product in the future across the world, they have to move towards renewable, cheaper and cleaner power. We know that One Nation and, unfortunately, elements of the LNP in Queensland want to put their heads in the sand and pretend that this is not happening. This is what companies need to do now to make sure that we have those jobs in heavy industry into the future.

The reforms that the Labor government have introduced will progressively lower baseline on a trajectory consistent with the legislated targets, delivering more than 200 million tonnes of abatement to 2030. The use of Australian carbon credit units has always been central to the safeguard mechanism since it was legislated by the previous government in 2014. Let's not forget that, on 25 November 2015, the previous government's environment minister, Greg Hunt, boasted that the safeguard mechanism would generate approximately 200 million tonnes of emissions reduction by 2030—and that was towards the weak 2030 targets that the former government had at the time, a target that has now been abandoned by the Leader of the Opposition.

The ACCU scheme has already been subject to multiple reviews and has been found to be sound. In 2022, the independent Chubb review found the ACCU scheme settings were sound and set out some sensible improvements that should be made. We are getting on with it and have already acted to implement the review recommendations. The Climate Change Authority's review of the scheme, which reported last December, has also found that the scheme is 'well designed', with 'robust governance, compliance and enforcement structures'.

On 30 April, the Australian National Audit Office released their performance report of the ACCU scheme. They found the scheme's administration and development of methods was effective and was being effectively enforced by the Clean Energy Regulator. The Clean Energy Regulator has increased the transparency of HIR projects and established extra review and audit processes to implement recommendation 8. In May 2023, implementing the ministerial direction, the Clean Energy Regulator expanded its compliance audit program to include independent audits for regeneration and forest cover attainment checks, known as gateway checks, of all HIR projects. In June 2023, the Clean Energy Regulator published HIR project carbon estimation areas.

In the second half of 2023, the Clean Energy Regulator engaged Associate Professor Cris Brack, a forestry services expert from the Australian National University, to independently review HIR projects passing their first five-yearly regeneration check. Associate Professor Brack's first report, published on 15 December 2023, found:

… HIR projects are demonstrating regeneration and proponents are implementing the project activities.

He also found:

… the independent audit reports and the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) reviews of HIR projects provide strong assurance that projects meet the requirements of the method …

A second report was published on 30 September. Associate Professor Brack found that the independent audit reports and the Clean Energy Regulator's assessments 'continue to provide strong assurance that projects are being managed properly'.

The Albanese government has also been consulting on the Climate Active program and looking at ways to drive more effective voluntary climate action and provide consumers with greater confidence about businesses' climate credentials. The program is not related to our safeguard reforms and is not one of the key levers used by the government to meet its legislated emissions reduction targets. The Albanese government has put in place a comprehensive suite of climate and energy programs to encourage businesses and organisations to act on climate change and prioritise emissions reductions. Of course, we are doing that partly because of the environmental need to act on climate change, but we're also, as I say, doing this because we understand that so many thousands of jobs across Australia, particularly in the resources sector, heavy industry and other blue-collar occupations, rely on us making this energy transition as quickly and efficiently as possible.

We know there are some in the Australian parliament—including One Nation and, sadly, many in the LNP—who continue to believe that we can ignore climate change. In some cases, they just don't believe that climate change is even happening. There are many in this chamber—fortunately, not in the Labor Party, but in other parties—who think that we can ignore the reality of climate change and that the rest of the world can move ahead in making this adjustment and we don't need to worry about it. The only thing that will happen as a result of that is that thousands of blue-collar workers in places like Gladstone will lose their jobs. It's not environmental activists who are making this point; it's companies like Rio Tinto.

Senator Hanson interjecting—

Senator Hanson can keep yelling at me if she wants to. I'd bet she's never set foot in Boyne Smelter. I'd bet she's never set foot in any of the alumina refineries. Well, people like me have. We've talked to the workers. We've talked to the companies. They understand that we need to make this change, because the workers want to have a job not just next year but in 10 years, 20 years, 30 years and 50 years. The way to do that is by making sure that we accept the reality of climate change, making the investments that are necessary to keep those jobs and ensuring that they are supplied by cheaper, cleaner power. We are not going to be distracted by the climate deniers who sit in parties like One Nation and the LNP. We're about protecting those jobs and protecting the environment.