Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2014 and related bills — Second Reading — Put the Greens amendment

The majority voted in favour of a motion "That the question be now put", which means that the House will stop discussing the bills in detail and will now vote on the question proposed, which was whether an amendment introduced by Greens MP Adam Bandt be agreed to. This question was subsequently put without division because there are fewer than five members on the side of the 'ayes' when the vote was put.(Read more about why a division does not always take place in our FAQ Section here.)

The amendment would have amended the original motion "that the bills be read a second time" with the following:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"the House declines to give the bill a second reading and:

(1) notes that:

(a) the world is on track for 4 degrees of warming; and

(b) warming of less than 1 degree is already intensifying extreme weather events in Australia and around the world with enormous costs to life and property; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) protect the Australian people and environment from climate change by approving no new coal mines or extensions of existing mines, or new coal export terminals; and

(b) adopt a trajectory of 40-60% below 2000 levels by 2030 and net carbon zero by 2050 emissions reduction target in global negotiations for a 2015 treaty."

Background to the bills

The Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2014 and related bills were introduced 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 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.

This is the third time that this package of bills have been introduced. The first time, they were rejected in the Senate during the third reading stage.(See that division here. ) The second time, they were rejected in the Senate during the committee stage.(See that division here. Read more about this second rejection of this package of bills on ABC News here or on the World Today here.)

The bills included in this package are the following:

• Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2014
• True-up Shortfall Levy (General) (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2014
• True-up Shortfall Levy (Excise) (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2014
• Customs Tariff Amendment (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2014
• Excise Tariff Amendment (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2014
• Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Import Levy) Amendment (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2014
• Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Manufacture Levy) Amendment (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2014
• Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (Import Levy) (Transitional Provisions) Bill 2014