Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011 and related bills

The majority voted in favour of a motion that the bills be read for a third time.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. ) This means that the majority want to pass the bills and that they will now be sent back to the House of Representatives for them to consider the amendments made in the Senate.

Background to the bills

The three bills were introduced as a package to establish a voluntary carbon offset scheme, to be called the Carbon Farming Initiative.(The three related bills are the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011, the Carbon Credits (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011 and the Australian National Registry of Emissions Units Bill 2011. ) Introducing this scheme was a Government election commitment. The Initiative will be "a voluntary scheme that aims to provide incentives for the agricultural and forestry sectors to minimise carbon emissions or maximise carbon sequestration by altering their forestry and agricultural practices".(Read more in the bills digest. ) The objectives of this scheme are:

• to implement certain commitments Australia has under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol to it
• to create incentives for carbon-abatement projects
• to increase carbon abatement while still protecting Australia’s natural environment and enhancing resilience to climate change impacts.(Read more in the bills digest.)