The SPEAKER ( Hon. Bronwyn Bishop ) took the chair at 12:00, made an acknowledgement of country and read prayers.
Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Bill 2015
Monthly rainfall over the southeast of South Australia … has been below average from August last year. Serious or severe rainfall deficiencies have been observed in parts of these regions for various medium-term periods since late 2013.
I wanted to write to thank you for the recognition given to small business in the last budget. The measures you have taken will make a difference to us, and there is already an optimism spreading through my small business customer base.
Your budget measures supporting small business are going to be very helpful for our medical practice. We are in the process of spending about $45,000 to refresh our whole IT system as it is now over five years old. The announced measures will assist in achieving this and allow us to fit additional equipment purchases into our practice. As a small business owner, these are the types of policies that give confidence.
We want all young Australians climbing the ladder of opportunity, not languishing on … benefits.
How the hell will I manage if I lose $100 a fortnight because of this government's cuts to Family Tax Benefit Part B?
When you look at the housing price bubble evidence, it's unequivocally the case in Sydney.
Credit is recording moderate growth overall, with stronger lending to businesses—
and growth in lending to the housing market broadly steady …
Dwelling prices continue to rise strongly in Sydney, though trends have been more varied in a number of other cities.
Dwelling prices continue to rise strongly in Sydney, though trends have been more varied in a number of other cities.
… any government that doesn't have a process of review of their longer term commitments, I think, is letting the community down.
Liberal Member for Barker Tony Pasin has said he would not support a change to legislation on the issue of same sex marriage and said the majority of his electorate has told him they agree.
An overwhelming majority of people who have approached me on this issue have asked me to confirm the position as the traditional definition.
The Government's cuts to infrastructure investment in Australia.
… the detail of the budget papers show a real decline in spending in the Infrastructure and Regional Development portfolio of 11.2 per cent between 2014-15 and 2018-19.
This is the first Budget in living memory with not one significant infrastructure project funded.
Mr Hockey's first Budget a year ago was light on capital works detail for the Hunter … and this document follows suit.
Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Bill 2015
In the long term, a sustainable forest-management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual yield of timber, fibre or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit.
Saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth ... these are one and the same fight.
We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy shortages, global health, food security and women's empowerment. Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all.
We can't afford to wait any longer.
The only way we will tackle climate change in Australia is with a change of government.
… … …
Australia needs a whole of Government approach to avoid dangerous climate change.
Labor's systematic climate change plan offers Australia a way to avoid dangerous climate change.
We must take action not just to protect the environment, but to protect jobs and the economy.
In the presence of lower cost alternatives, the costs imposed by the RET are not justifiable.
… several companies signing contracts, known as power purchase agreements, for solar or wind at prices below that of natural gas, especially in the Great Plains and Southwest, where wind and sunlight are abundant.
Those prices were made possible by generous subsidies …
Both industries have managed to bring down costs through a combination of new technologies and approaches to financing and operations. Still, the industries are not ready to give up on their government supports just yet.
Already, solar executives are looking to extend a 30 percent federal tax credit that is set to fall to 10 percent at the end of 2016. Wind professionals are seeking renewal of a production tax credit that Congress has allowed to lapse and then reinstated several times over the last few decades.
Renewable energy production has boomed across the globe in recent years, driven by improvements to solar and wind turbines, increased economies of scale, and in some cases, significant government subsidies.
… new subsidised capacity … being forced into an oversupplied electricity market …
More than 7,500 MW would need to be removed from the market to affect supply-adequacy in 2014-15.
There is potentially between 7,650 MW and 8,950 MW of surplus capacity across the NEM in 2014-15.
As operational consumption grows, the level of surplus capacity decreases. However, even with 10 years of consumption growth, by 2023-24 between 1,100 MW and 3,100 MW of capacity could still be withdrawn from each of New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria without breaching the reliability standard.
That the question be now put.
The House divided. [20:05]
(The Deputy Speaker—Mr Bruce Scott)
(1) Title, page 1 (lines 2 and 3), omit "and the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Regulations 2001".
(2) Clause 3, page 2 (line 11), omit "(1)".
(3) Clause 3, page 2 (lines 15 to 17), omit subclause (2).
(4) Schedule 1, Part 4, page 13 (line 1) to page 15 (line 2), omit the Part, substitute:
Part 4—Wood waste
Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000
1 At the end of section 17
Add:
Wood waste
(6) Despite anything in regulations made under subsection (3), wood waste does not include waste, or a product or bi-product, that is or is derived from biomass from a native forest.
If we really want to prevent catastrophic climate change, we will have to make radical alterations to the ways in which we generate energy. One major solution lies in the contemporary, cutting-edge use of the oldest fuel known to man—wood.
Woody biomass—also known as biomass from forestry and farming—has the potential to become a major source for future electricity and heat production. By utilizing modern and efficient technologies, biomass offers a source of clean energy that can gradually replace coal and other fossil fuels, bringing environmental benefits, supporting rural development and creating new employment opportunities.
The House divided. [20:44]
(The Deputy Speaker—Mr Scott)
That this bill be now read a third time.
Tax Laws Amendment (Small Business Measures No. 1) Bill 2015
Tax Laws Amendment (Small Business Measures No. 2) Bill 2015
The Liberal's plans to put in place a two-tier tax system in next week's Budget will only serve to smash business confidence ever further.
The fact is my daughter would be alive today if there were compulsory detox. As I have already stated, the rehabilitation facilities in Geelong are a joke.
Do the politicians, health workers et cetera want these families to live in a permanent hell visiting a headstone in a cemetery every day, instead of a hug?
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mrs Griggs ) took the chair at 16:01.
Giving back to these people is something I will hold quite close to my heart. It really is something special. … It is good for us to see a different part of Australia.
No one forces me to go to school every morning, I have to do that myself. No one makes me dinner every night. I just push myself.
… I don't want to struggle with money every week to get her nappies or just have essentials in life.
The aqueduct is internationally significant and was one of the most extraordinary engineering structures in Australia.
… these are the final and only changes Labor will make to the tax treatment of superannuation.
What we have flagged is that we are still doing work on other aspects of superannuation policy.
Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2015-2016
Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2015-2016
Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2015-2016
Appropriation Bill (No. 5) 2014-2015
Appropriation Bill (No. 6) 2014-2015
Don't look at it from a replacement to the car manufacturing side of things but look at it as a way of expanding the intellectual … capacity of Geelong …
The nation wants continued focus and action to close the unacceptable health and life expectancy gap. We need bold policy initiatives supported by long-term investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.
Last night was a test of the government's commitment to dealing with Australia's domestic violence crisis, and it's a test they failed.
… that's why we have an arms-length and peer-reviewed structure for the allocation for the funding.
The Budget has delivered a much needed boost to small business through targeted taxation measures. It is clear that the Government is focused on the task of growing the economy by supporting small business to grow and help create new and sustainable jobs.
It is a clear and positive indication of the Federal Government's recognition of the important role that [Northern Australia] has to play in the nation's growth and their commitment to supporting development in the region.
Anything we can get back that allows us to put more back into our business and employ more people is appreciated. It's also productivity benefits — we can spend money on technology, or other things to improve our business, sooner than we would have otherwise.