It is done. On Thursday, the Albanese government passed its suite of reforms – and reforms to those reforms – to the Safeguard Mechanism through both houses of the Parliament.
“This is an historic day for the country to ensure our economy can take advantage of the opportunities of decarbonisation and meet our ambitious climate targets,” said federal energy and climate minister Chris Bowen.
It means that after “10 long years and a couple more days of delay and dysfunction,” as federal agriculture minister Murray Watt put it in the Senate on Thursday, Australia now has a framework in place to ensure Australia’s largest emitters actually reduce their emissions.
It means, as Frank Jotzo writes here, that come July 1, Australia will have an effective carbon price for the industry sector.
It means that 215 of Australia’s largest greenhouse gas emitters will have to keep their net emissions below a baseline, and national emissions will actually start going down, to the order of 205 million tonnes by 2030.
It doesn’t mean there will be no new coal or gas projects developed in Australia, as the science has unequivocally stipulated must be the case to prevent dangerous global warming.
But thanks the Greens, the Teals and other cross bench negotiators, it does mean these projects will have more hoops to jump through and a hard cap on emissions will ensure many cannot proceed.
As The Australia Institute notes this is an improvement on the original legislation, which allowed fossil fuel companies to expand unfettered with carbon offsets.
Further legislative reform will be required to reduce Australia’s emissions as the impacts of climate change continue to intensify, TAI says. And this is probably an understatement.
But for now, it feels right to enjoy the moment – at least for the remainder of the week. Another small, baby step for mankind.
The nature of the cross-bench negotiations that secured the Bill’s passage seems worth some credit, too.
“Passage of this legislation is the culmination of extensive feedback from Safeguard businesses, industry associations, climate and community groups, academics and private individuals,” said Bowen.
“These reforms have been supported across the spectrum – from the Business Council to the Climate Council, Manufacturing Australia to the Australian Conservation Foundation,” he said.
But not the Coalition.
In the spirit of guarded optimism, the glass half full take on this bizarre situation might be that the passage of the reformed Safeguard Mechanism Bill has provided a timely reminder of why this party is no longer in power.
“In 20 minutes we will be voting on disastrous laws that will have disastrous impacts, that will drive up the cost of electricity, that will chill the life out of the gas exploration sector and other sources of energy generation, that will drive up the cost of fuel, that will drive up the cost of train tickets in Victoria, that will drive up rates for ratepayers… that will drive up the cost of fruit and veg, that will drive up so many elements of everyday life,” said Senator Liberal Senator Jonathon Duniam.
Forget the emissions, said Duniam, the shadow minister for the environment, “what about the cost to the economy, the threat to jobs, the cost-of-living pressures that we’re going to be seeing as a result of these laws?”
As Labor Senator and assistant minister for climate Jenny McAllister responded, the Coaliiton can always be relied upon to have “fear up their sleeves – it’s an oldie but a goodie,” she said as the minutes to the Senate vote ticked down.
“The bill before us matters a great deal,” McAllister added.
“It will take us a step closer to reaching net zero by 2050. It is about emissions reductions, Senator Duniam … but it’s also about the economy, and these two things can’t actually be separated in the way you assert that they can.
“Our opportunity is to ensure that our economy is geared up to take advantage of the opportunities that will come as the world transforms itself and moves towards net zero.”
But the final word should go to Independent MP Allegra Spender, federal member for Wentworth in Sydney, the formerly safe Liberal seat once occupied by party leader Malcolm Turnbull.
Spender, along with fellow independents Zali Steggall, Sophie Scamps and David Pocock pushed the government to include a cap on emissions or an explicit objective that they must come down under the mechanism.
“My message is to the Coalition: if you would like my seat back, then you should vote for [the Safeguard Mechanism Bill],” Spender said in the House of Representatives on Thursday.
“If you would like her seat back, or hers, or hers, or hers, or hers, or hers, then vote for it – and also elect some women – because the business community backs this, the environmental community backs this, the Australian community backs this and the Wentworth community backs this.”
