Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011

The majority voted in favour of a motion "That the words proposed to be omitted (Mr Hunt's amendment) stand part of the question." In other words, the majority wanted wanted the original motion to remain unchanged.

The original motion was "That this bill be now read a second time." Liberal MP Greg Hunt introduced the following amendment to this:

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

“the House decline to give the bill a second reading until the terms of the regulations giving effect to the provisions of the bill are laid before the House”.

Because the majority voted in favour of this motion to keep the original motion unchanged, Mr Hunt's amendment won't proceed.

Background to the bill

The bill was introduced as part of a package of three related bills to establish a voluntary carbon offset scheme, to be called the Carbon Farming Initiative.(The other two related bills were 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 bills digest explains that 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".

The bill's stated objectives 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 about the bill in its bills digest.)