4th Jun 2009, 9:27 AM – Representatives Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009 - Second Reading - Defer consideration

The majority voted in favour of a motion "That the words proposed to be omitted (Mr Turnbull’s amendment) stand part of the question." This means that Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull's amendment is unsuccessful and that the words of the motion that it tried to amend will remain unchanged.

The original motion was "That this bill be now read a second time."

Mr Turnbull's amendment was the following:

That all words after “That” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:—”the House defer consideration of the bill until the following have occurred:

(1) the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit at the end of this year has concluded;

(2) the Barack Obama administration in the United States has clarified its intentions in this area;

(3) the Government has referred its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) to the Productivity Commission so that it may conduct a six-month review to: (a) assess the national, regional and industry sectoral impact of the CPRS in light of the global financial crisis; (b) assess the economic impact of the CPRS in light of other countries either not imposing a price on carbon comparable to that proposed for Australia or imposing such a price after different assumed periods of delay; and (c) conceptually and empirically examine the relative costs and benefits (including emissions reductions) of the key alternative scheme designs against the CPRS; and

(4) the Productivity Commission’s reports on these topics have been publicly released.

Background to the bill

The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009 was introduced as part of a package of six bills to introduce the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.(Read more about the scheme on Wikipedia. ) This is an emission trading scheme designed to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in an effort to address climate change. The scheme gives effect to Australia's obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.

The design of the scheme has been criticised by the business community for threatening jobs and by environmentalists for not going far enough with its emission reduction targets.(Read more about these criticisms here.)

The six bills that were introduced as a package are called:

• the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009
• the Australian Climate Change Regulatory Authority Bill 2009
• the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Charges-Customs) Bill 2009
• the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Charges-Excise) Bill 2009
• the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Charges-General) Bill 2009
• the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009

References