Clean Energy Bill 2011 and related bills

The majority voted in favour of a motion that these bills may be taken together.

This is a procedural motion and means that the Senate can now vote on reading the eighteen bills for a first time in one vote,(See that division here. ) as opposed to having to vote on each of the bills separately.

Background to the bills

The Clean Energy Bill 2011 and seventeen related bills are designed to introduce the carbon pricing mechanism,(For more detail about the carbon pricing mechanism and how it works, please see the Clean Energy Regulator’s website.) which will commence on 1 July 2012. It is an emissions trading scheme that puts a price on carbon emissions. It applies to “liable entities” (a group that includes companies that emit a high level of greenhouse gases). Initially the price of carbon will be fixed by the mechanism but from 1 July 2015 the price will be set by the market.

The eighteen bills are:

• Clean Energy Bill 2011
• Clean Energy (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011
• Clean Energy (Income Tax Rates Amendments) Bill 2011
• Clean Energy (Household Assistance Amendments) Bill 2011
• Clean Energy (Tax Laws Amendments) Bill 2011
• Clean Energy (Fuel Tax Legislation Amendment) Bill 2011
• Clean Energy (Customs Tariff Amendment) Bill 2011
• Clean Energy (Excise Tariff Legislation Amendment) Bill 2011
• Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Import Levy) Amendment Bill 2011
• Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Manufacture Levy) Amendment Bill 2011
• Clean Energy (Unit Shortfall Charge—General) Bill 2011
• Clean Energy (Unit Issue Charge—Auctions) Bill 2011
• Clean Energy (Unit Issue Charge—Fixed Charge) Bill 2011
• Clean Energy (International Unit Surrender Charge) Bill 2011
• Clean Energy (Charges—Customs) Bill 2011
• Clean Energy (Charges—Excise) Bill 2011
• Clean Energy Regulator Bill 2011
• Climate Change Authority Bill 2011

References