15th Dec 2022, 4:10 PM – Senate Treasury Laws Amendment (Energy Price Relief Plan) Bill 2022 - Second Reading - Fossil fuel subsidies

The majority voted against an amendment that would have added the words below to the usual second reading motion, which is "That this bill be now read a second time" - parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill. It was introduced by Tasmanian Senator Nick McKim (Greens).

A rebel in Labor?

At the time of writing this, parliamentary data shows that South Australian Penny Wong (Labor) crossed the floor to vote "Yes" against the rest of the Labor Party. As Labor Party senators don't tend to cross the floor, it is very unlikely Senator Wong actually rebelled. This is probably an error in the original data set.

Amendment text

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate:

(a) notes that:

(i) while this legislation does not include any subsidies to coal corporations, there have been media reports that more than $500 million of coal subsidies are currently under consideration from the Commonwealth and New South Wales Governments, and

(ii) due to the global energy crisis, major coal producers are making billions in windfall profits; and

(b) calls on the Government to reject all new fossil fuel subsidies".