Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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NATIONAL GREENHOUSE AND ENERGY REPORTING AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2011 (NO. 2) (SLI NO 269 OF 2011)

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Select Legislative Instrument 2011 No. 269

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency
National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007
National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Amendment Regulations 2011 (No. 2)

Section 77 of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 (the NGER Act) provides, in part, that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

The NGER Act establishes the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting System, which is a national framework for reporting greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse gas projects and energy consumption and production by Australian corporations.

Subsection 75A(1) of the NGER Act provides for the Greenhouse and Energy Data Officer (the GEDO) to maintain a register of greenhouse and energy auditors. Subsection 75A(2) provides that the GEDO must register individuals who have applied for registration in accordance with regulations made under subsection 75A(5), and who meet the requirements prescribed in regulations made for paragraph 75A(2)(b) or in a legislative instrument made under the regulations in accordance with subsection 75A(4). Regulations dealing with audits were inserted into the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Regulations 2008 (the Principal Regulations) by the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Amendment Regulations 2009 (No. 2).

Section 75A of the NGER Act was amended by the Carbon Credits (Consequential Amendments) Act 2011 to allow the audit framework for the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 (the CFI Act) to utilise the existing NGER audit framework. The effect of this amendment is that the register of greenhouse and energy auditors kept under section 75A of the NGER Act will list auditors for the purpose of both the NGER Act and the CFI Act.

The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Amendment Regulations 2011 (the Regulations) support the amendments by extending existing provisions relating to greenhouse and energy auditors to CFI audits.

The sections of the NGER Act which enable the Regulations are set out in Attachment A.

Details of the Regulations are set out in Attachment B.

Consultation

The amendments are mechanical in nature and are primarily aimed at implementing Parliament's decision to bring CFI audits within the existing NGER framework. These amendments do not alter reporting requirements. Given the extensive consultation on the primary legislation and consequential nature of the amendments, further specific consultation was not conducted.

The amendments relating to CFI audits are intended to be read in conjunction with the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (Audit) Determination 2009 and the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (Auditor Registration) Instrument 2009, both of which will be amended in relation to CFI audits. Consultation will be undertaken in relation to those amendments. 

 

Authority: Section 77 of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007

Attachment A

Sections of the NGER Act supporting the Regulations

The Regulations are supported by the following provisions of the NGER Act:

Attachment B

Details of the Regulations

Amendments relating to CFI audits

The Principal Regulations are amended by extending the existing provisions relating to greenhouse and energy auditors to CFI audits.

In particular, existing provisions relating to:

*       the content and publication of the register of greenhouse and energy auditors (Division 6.3 of the Principal Regulations) [items 13-17 of Schedule 1];

*       the requirements as to qualifications, status as a fit and proper person and the knowledge and experience that an individual must meet to be registered (Division 6.4 of the Principal Regulations) [items 18-19 of Schedule 1];

*       the registration of registered greenhouse and energy auditors (Division 6.5 of the Principal Regulations) [items 20-29 of Schedule 1]; and

*       the requirements to be met to maintain registration (Division 6.6 of the Principal Regulations) [items 30-56 of Schedule 1];

are amended so that they extend to an audit under sections 214 or 215 of the CFI Act, or an audit carried out for the purposes of preparing an audit report prescribed for the purposes of paragraphs 13(1)(e), 23(1)(d) or 76(4)(c) of the CFI Act (a CFI audit).

Consequential amendments are also made to the categories of registered greenhouse and energy auditors. The Principal Regulations recognise 3 categories of auditors, with category 1 auditors classified as either technical or non-technical. The amendments made by items 14-21 of Schedule 1 of the Regulations will allow for differentiation between NGER technical and CFI technical category 1 auditors. Greenhouse gas accounting in the land sector has a particular set of issues and challenges which need to be understood for a CFI audit to be able to be effectively undertaken. This amendment recognises the need for specialist CFI auditors who have experience in and understanding of land sector greenhouse gas accounting.

Auditors will be required to have knowledge of the legislation relevant to the category of auditor for which they have applied. That is, a category 1 CFI technical applicant will require knowledge of the CFI legislation, while a category 1 NGER technical applicant will require knowledge of the NGER legislation. A category 2 applicant will require knowledge of both sets of legislation only if they intend to work on both NGER and CFI audits.

Amendments relating to disclosure of greenhouse and energy information

Subsection 26(1) of the NGER Act allows the disclosure of greenhouse and energy information to a Commonwealth Minister, a Secretary of a Department or an APS employee where the person:

*         is responsible for administering a program or collecting statistics relating to greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption or energy production; and

*         is specified in the Principal Regulations.

The disclosure provisions in the Principal Regulations are amended to allow disclosure of greenhouse and energy information to the Treasurer, the Secretary of the Treasury and officers of the Treasury. This ensures that these persons are able to access and use historical data collected under the NGER Act [items 9-12 of Schedule 1]. The intent of this provision is to allow information to be disclosed for purposes relevant to the Energy Security Council, which the Government announced in its Clean Energy Future Plan. The Energy Security Council will provide advice to the Treasurer on policy instruments available to address energy security risks.

 

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