25th Jun 2012, 8:47 PM – Senate Clean Energy Legislation Amendment Bill 2012, Clean Energy (Customs Tariff Amendment) Bill 2012, Clean Energy (Excise Tariff Legislation Amendment) Bill 2012 - Third Reading - R...

The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bills a third time.

This means that the bills are passed in the Senate and, as they have already passed in the House of Representatives, they will now be sent to the Governor-General for royal assent so they can become law.

Background to the bill

The three bills are a package to include non-transport gaseous fuels in the carbon pricing mechanism.(Read the government's explanation of the bills here. ) This would mean that the carbon pricing mechanism would apply to compressed natural gas from 1 July 2012. It would also apply to non-transport liquid petroleum gas and liquefied natural gas from 1 July 2013.

The three bills that make up the package are:

• Clean Energy Legislation Amendment Bill 2012;
• Clean Energy (Customs Tariff Amendment) Bill 2012;
• Clean Energy (Excise Tariff Legislation Amendment) Bill 2012

The carbon pricing mechanism is an emissions trading scheme which will commence on 1 July 2012.(See the Clean Energy Regulator’s website for more information on how it works.)

References