Crown Minerals (Decommissioning and Other Matters) Amendment Bill

Members, we turn now to the Crown Minerals (Decommissioning and Other Matters) Amendment Bill, and we first debate Part 1—this is the debate on clauses 4 to 7—“Amendments to Part 1”. The question is that Part 1 stand part.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Most of what I want to say on this Crown Minerals (Decommissioning and Other Matters) Amendment Bill is related to Part 2, but what I just did want to say in relation to the bill overall, as we start debating the committee stage, is that it’s a terribly awful piece of legislation. It’s completely unnecessary. I sat in on the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee, and we heard the submitters talking about their role in decommissioning, something which the submitters from the industry supported and have no problem doing. And this bill is a total overreach, where there are some very big concerns around trailing liabilities, the retrospective nature of some of the parts of the bill, strict obligations to remove infrastructure. You know, we’re going to get to a stage in this industry, as if enough damage hasn’t already been done to this industry by the Minister of Energy and Resources, that we are going to have directors who are not prepared to put their name up for positions like this until they’re at least probably 85 years old, because actually the young, vibrant people are going to go, “Well, this is absolutely far too much of a commitment by us to be able to put our names to this.”

And so all I really want to say right at the beginning of this bill is this is a bad piece of legislation. It is another blow to an industry who we need for energy security in this country. We are importing record amounts of coal due to the decisions that have already been made and the blows that have already been taken by this industry.

We will be putting up some Supplementary Order Papers and suggestions when we get to Part 2, because it’s a terrible piece of legislation. We certainly won’t be supporting it. Thank you.

Part 2 Amendments to other Parts of principal Act, and Schedules 1 and 2.