14th Nov 2018, 4:04 PM – Senate Motions - Climate Change - Possible future carbon price + sovereign risk

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Greens Senator Richard Di Natale, which means it failed.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that investors, industry and the Parliament all acknowledge that a future carbon price, in some form, is inevitable, with companies already factoring carbon prices into their investment decisions;

(b) further notes that any decision to indemnify companies from future carbon risk would fundamentally undermine any future policy decisions of this Parliament;

(c) agrees with the comments of the Shadow Minister for Climate and Energy that "investors need to understand very clearly that we do not support that. That would be an extraordinary waste of taxpayers' money";

(d) signals to all potential contractors seeking to be indemnified from future carbon risk that those contracts will not be honoured; and

(e) acknowledges that, given this prior warning, any future rescinding of these contracts would not constitute sovereign risk.