17th Jul 2014, 10:41 AM – Senate Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2014 — In Committee — Funding to ARENA

The majority voted in favour of a motion "that schedule 5 stand as printed", which means that the schedule will remain unchanged. This motion was put in response to an amendment to oppose that schedule, which was introduced by Greens Senator Christine Milne.

Schedule 5 amends the funding for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency ('ARENA').(Read more about this schedule in the explanatory memorandum. ) Senator Milne explained that "if the government's schedule stands, ARENA's funding would drop from just over a billion dollars down to $341 million".(Read Senator Milne's full explanation and the associated debate here, after 10.28 am. )

Background to the bills

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