Updated 20 November 2013
PDF version [288KB]
Kate Loynes
Science, Technology, Environment and Resources
Introduction
The Abbott Government, as promised, introduced the Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 and related bills to the House of Representatives on the 13th of November 2013.
Progress through Parliament
Second reading debates for the bills package are online.
On the 14th of November 2013 the bills package was referred to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee. A report is due on the 2nd of December 2013. Submissions to the inquiry close on the 22nd of November 2013, with a public hearing scheduled for the 26th of November 2013.
Bills Digests for the bills are in progress and can be accessed via the Bills’ homepages when available.
Bills Homepages
Coalition policies on repealing the Carbon Price
Draft repeal legislation and consultation
On the 15th of October 2013 the Coalition Government announced it had released exposure drafts of bills designed to repeal the carbon price. Drafts for all eight pieces of draft legislation are available online.
A consultation paper was also released, with a call for public comment. The paper includes summaries of the draft legislation and outlines issues for businesses subject to the carbon price. Submissions closed on the 4th of November 2013 and are now available online.
Media releases
The Coalition’s Direct Action Plan
The repeal of the carbon price will coincide with the introduction of the Coalition’s Direct Action Plan, according to Environment Minister Greg Hunt. The Government says that it is committed to reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 5% from 2000 levels by the year 2020.
A key instrument of the Direct Action Plan is the Emissions Reduction Fund, designed to provide funding for low-cost emission abatement projects. Public consultation for an Emission Reduction Fund Green Paper closed on the 18th of November 2013. The paper is due to be released in December 2013, with an Emissions Reduction Fund White Paper scheduled for early 2014.
Cost of the Direct Action Plan
Costings for repealing the carbon price and launching the Direct Action Plan are included in the Parliamentary Budget Office’s Post-election reporton commitments made by the major parties during the 2013 general election campaign.
In 2011 the Treasury released an Executive Minute analysing the Economic and Fiscal Impacts of the Coalition’s Direct Action Plan compared to Labor’s Carbon Price Mechanism, detailed in their 2010 plan Strong Growth, Low Pollution.
Labor’s Clean Energy Future being repealed
The Rudd-Gillard Government’s Clean Energy Future plan for mitigating climate change, which is still in effect, also aims to reduce emissions by at least 5 per cent compared with 2000 levels by 2020. This is being done through a Carbon Price Mechanism on most sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
Public comment was sought during a consultation period on the Clean Energy Future package. The submissions received are no longer available online but a handful has been archived. Legislation was amended following this consultation with the changes outlined in this factsheet.
The Clean Energy Future package was reviewed by the Joint Select Committee on Australia's Clean Energy Future Legislation. The Committee’s report and submissions were published in October 2011, including a Dissenting Report by Coalition members of the Committee.
The Clean Energy Act 2011 is one of 18 bills that legislates the Clean Energy Future package. A full list of the relevant Acts can be found online. Second reading debates for all Clean Energy Future bills (which were debated as a package) can be found here.
The Parliamentary Library prepared the following Bills Digests on the legislation around the Clean Energy Future:
Changes to the Clean Energy Future Package 2012
The Clean Energy Future package was amended twice in 2012. In May, amendments added non-transport gaseous fuels to the Carbon Price Mechanism. These amendments can be found in Parlinfo.
In September the legislation was amended to link the future Australian Emissions Trading Scheme with the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme from July 2015. A Bills Digest for this significant change and a list of these amendments is online.
Proposed changes to the Clean Energy Future Package 2013
In the 2012–13 Federal Budget the Labor Government’s projections of the carbon price fell significantly. This development led in part to the Government proposing to bring forward to 2014 the transition from a fixed carbon price to a floating carbon price. Draft legislation for this change was released and public consultation began, which closed on the 15th of August 2013. The submissions are not available online.
Cost of the Clean Energy Future package
Reviews of Australian climate change progress
Review and analysis of local and international climate change policies
© Commonwealth of Australia
Creative Commons
With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, and to the extent that copyright subsists in a third party, this publication, its logo and front page design are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia licence.