29th Mar 2023, 10:49 AM – Senate Safeguard Mechanism (Crediting) Amendment Bill 2023 - Second Reading - Pepper Inquiry and First Nations

The majority voted in favour of an amendment to the usual second reading motion, which is "That this bill be now read a second time." To read a bill for a second time is to agree with its main idea. This amendment does not make any changes to the bill itself but still has political significance because it represents the will of the Senate. It was introduced by Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe (Independent).

Amendment text

At the end of the motion, add “, but the Senate calls on the Government to:

(a) in line with its commitment to implementing recommendation 9.8 of the final report of the Pepper Scientific Inquiry into Hydraulic Fracturing in the Northern Territory, ensure the gas industry in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin is required to offset all Scope 2 and 3 emissions by referring this matter to the Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council, and work with the Northern Territory Government to achieve this;

(b) support First Nations communities in carbon sequestration projects on Country, including but not limited to savanna burning, and on Sea Country, including but not limited to kelp farming; and

(c) support First Nations-led verification assessment of environmental, social and cultural values of carbon farming and sequestration projects and invest in training for these purposes in First Nations communities, including but not limited to communities in regional and remote areas and on missions and reserves”.