Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 and related bills — First Reading — Consider the legislation together

The majority voted against a motion that the bills be considered together.

This means that each of the eleven bills will have to be considered separately.

The eleven bills are a package to remove the carbon pricing mechanism, which was introduced by the Australian Labor Party while in government. The Coalition described the mechanism as a “carbon tax” and removing it was a key policy platform during the 2013 election.(You can read more about the Coalition's policy to remove the carbon price here. )

The eleven bills are:

• Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013
• True-up Shortfall Levy (General) (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013
• True-up Shortfall Levy (Excise) (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013
• Customs Tariff Amendment (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013
• Excise Tariff Amendment (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013
• Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Import Levy) Amendment (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013
• Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Manufacture Levy) Amendment (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013
• Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Import Levy) (Transitional Provisions) Bill 2013
• Climate Change Authority (Abolition) Bill 2013
• Clean Energy (Income Tax Rates and Other Amendments) Bill 2013
• Clean Energy Finance Corporation (Abolition) Bill 2013

Background to the bills

The carbon pricing mechanism commenced on 1 July 2012.(For more information on the carbon pricing mechanism and how it works, please see the Clean Energy Regulator’s website.) 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 is fixed by the mechanism but from 1 July 2015 the price will be set by the market, though the Labor Government did announce plans to bring this forward to 1 July 2014 just before they were defeated by the Coalition in the 2013 election.