Coalition Senators' Dissenting Report

1.1The Coalition does not support the passage of the Future Made in Australia (Guarantee of Origin) Bill 2024 (the bill); Future Made in Australia, (Guarantee of Origin Charges) Bill 2024 (Charges bill); and Future Made in Australia (Guarantee of Origin Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024 (Amendment bill) (collectively the bills).

1.2The bills are part of the Future Made in Australia (FMIA) policy and aim to establish a Guarantee of Origin (GO) scheme to track and verify emissions associated with products made in Australia, and to provide a mechanism for renewable electricity certification.

1.3In 2019, the former Coalition Government began work on the GO Scheme in line with Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy which the Coalition championed to help support the development of the emerging industry.

1.4The GO Scheme’s original intent under the Coalition was to certify and track the emissions intensity associated with hydrogen production.

1.5The scheme was intended to allow buyers, both domestic and international, to verify green credentials of energy sources and to facilitate trade in low-emission energy amidst growing global demand for low-carbon products.

1.6This would support continued development of a low-emissions market and enable businesses the opportunity to charge a premium for their products if demand existed, while enabling business to verify the green credentials of energy sources which would feed into the production process for hydrogen.

1.7It was the Coalition’s intention for the scheme to cover a variety of ways in which clean hydrogen could be produced, including from renewable sources and from methods using gas or coal with substantial carbon capture and storage.

1.8While the Coalition was willing to engage meaningfully on a GO Scheme such as the Coalition originally imagined, this was not possible due to Labor’s ideological approach to energy and the economy.

1.9The Coalition has opposed the bills due to a number of key concerns which were confirmed through the Senate inquiry.

The policy is not technology‒agnostic

1.10The bills are silent on methods using gas or coal with carbon capture and storage and is not compatible with technologies such as nuclear energy.

1.11The legislation as it stands is ideological. It is symptomatic of Labor’s all-eggs-in-one-basket policy and places the emerging hydrogen industry at risk by signalling interest in one form of hydrogen above all else.

Shows bias against hydro power in favour of wind and solar.

1.12As projects installed prior to 1997 are restricted within the current proposal, renewable sources such as the legacy hydro assets of Hydro Tasmania and Snowy Hydro are not included.

1.13In the case of Tasmania, this creates the perverse effect of the state having to buy certificates from the mainland to espouse its green credentials despite it being a world leader in renewable electricity generation.

There is no guarantee the policy will not be later used as a quasi-carbon price

1.14No guarantees were made throughout the process that this policy would not eventually become mandatory.

1.15In effect, a mandatory scheme would result in a quasi-carbon price being applied to a broad range of industries as the scheme expands—as has been foreshadowed by the Australian Government.

1.16The Coalition has watched the government introduce policy measures across the economy which effectively place a price on carbon and are concerned about the impact of rising costs for businesses and customers alike.

1.17For these reasons, the Coalition does not support the passage of the bills.