Parliament passes major election promise after fierce debate

A signature election promise has been secured after the House of Representatives rubber stamped the bill after fierce, lengthy debate.

Australia’s pathway to net-zero has cleared another hurdle after a key part of the government’s plan passed parliament following days of fierce debate.

The nation’s 215 biggest polluters will be required to reduce their emissions by 4.9 per cent every year after Labor’s changes to the safeguard mechanism became law.

The reforms to the Coalition-era cap and trade scheme are expected to reduce emissions by 205 million tonnes by 2030.

The safeguard mechanism legislation was rubber-stamped in the House of Representatives on Thursday afternoon, passing by 89 votes to 50 to a smattering of applause.

The Bill, which the government said was essential to meeting its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, passed the Senate earlier in the day.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has got one of his major election promises through parliament. Picture: Martin Ollman/Getty Images

Introducing the Bill to the House for a final time, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen declared: “To achieve net-zero, we can’t start in 2044 or 2045. We must start today”.

He thanked the crossbench for working with the government on the bill.

Independent MPs Zoe Daniel and Allegra Spender told parliament the Coalition should support the safeguard mechanism changes if they wanted to win back the seats lost to the teals at last year’s federal election.

Opposition climate change and energy spokesman Ted O’Brien didn’t hold back as he seized the opportunity to attack the policy one last time, labelling the reforms a “disgrace”.

“This government has not done any economic modelling on the impact of this policy on jobs, on regional communities, on manufacturing,” he said.

“What we are voting on today is a policy that they have not researched, that they have not done the modelling on.”

Late night antics kept the Senate sitting into the early hours of the morning. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

The majority of MPs on the opposition and government benches left the chamber during the debate and returned right before the final vote.

Notably absent was Liberal MP Bridget Archer, who has crossed the floor to vote with Labor in the past and abstained from voting on the safeguard mechanism on Thursday.

The Tasmanian MP also abstained from voting on the Bill when it first came before the house last week, telling parliament she had too many concerns about the legislation to support it but didn’t want to stand in the way of meaningful emissions reduction.

“I strongly believe that in order to achieve the ultimate goal of reducing emissions and to strengthen the intended outcomes, the onus is on the government to bring the industries with them for the best outcome for the environment and economy,” she said at the time.

The Bill was guaranteed to sail through the House for the second and final time because Labor holds a majority in the chamber.

It was a different story in the Senate, where the government needed to negotiate with the Greens and the crossbench to get the legislation through without the Coalition’s support.

The Coalition filibustered the bill late into the evening. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Earlier on Thursday, the upper house agreed 32 votes to 26 to pass the legislation after being given a hard deadline of 1pm following intense debate that had senators sitting in the chamber until nearly 5am on Wednesday.

Labor agreed to install a greenhouse gas emissions that will ensure big polluters covered by the scheme reduce their gross emissions, under a deal struck with the Greens to make a number of amendments to the legislation in exchange for the minor party’s support.

A “pollution trigger” that requires the minister to consider the impact of a new coal or gas project on the nation’s emissions reduction targets was also included.

The Coalition vehemently opposed the changes and peppered the government with questions about the proposal all night on Tuesday, with senators sleeping in their offices.

Bleary-eyed senators avoided another parliamentary sleepover the following night after the government and the Greens voted to adjourn debate just before 10pm on Wednesday evening.