Clean Energy Finance Corporation (Abolition) Bill 2013 — Second Reading — Read a second time

The majority voted against a motion that: the bill, as amended, now be read a second time.

This means that the majority of senators rejected the main idea of the bill, which was to abolish the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

Background to the bill

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation was created by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation Bill 2012, which was introduced while the Australian Labor Party was in government. It is a fund dedicated to investing in renewable energy generation.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (Abolition) Bill 2013 was introduced into Parliament as part of a package of eleven bills to remove the carbon pricing mechanism and abolish both the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Climate Change Authority.(Read more about the Clean Energy Finance Corporation here and the Climate Change Authority here.)

The ten other 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