Net Zero Economy Authority Bill 2024, Net Zero Economy Authority (Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024

The majority voted against an amendment to the usual second reading motion, which is "that the bills be read a second time" (parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bills). Had this vote been successful, the usual words would have been replaced with the text below.

Amendment text

Omit all words after "that", substitute "the Senate:

(a) acknowledges that the Net Zero Economy Authority is a long-held union wish list item that masks itself as being an Authority for the regions and for the net zero transition, but is really another Canberra bureaucracy that:

(i) adds another level of federal government duplication by mimicking the role of the CEFC and ARENA by 'facilitating new investment in the net zero transition',

(ii) significantly overlaps with existing enterprise agreements, industrial obligations, and localised transition plans with its Energy Industry Jobs Plan,

(iii) gives unions access to the personal information of the employees of closing coal and gas-fired power stations, as well as the personal information of the employees of the businesses in commercial relationships with closing coal and gas-fired power stations, and

(iv) aims to centrally-plan employment opportunities for the employees of closing coal and gas-fired power stations without guarantees that such employment opportunities would leave employees better off than their current employment; and

(b) recognises that as coal-fired power stations close, zero-emissions nuclear technology will provide well-paid employment opportunities and economic security for generations in rural, regional, and remote communities".