When parliament resumes next week, a number of really important and contentious pieces of legislation will come before the senate for a vote.

Two of these are the Federal Government’s Climate Change Bills which will legislate a 43% emissions reduction target by 2030.

The two bills (Climate Change Bill 2022 and Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022) passed the House of Representatives - with amendments - in the last sitting fortnight and will now come before the Senate for review.

The Senate Environment and Communications Committee has conducted an inquiry into the Bills and will today release its report. 

I participated in the inquiry, hearing expert testimony from a range of stakeholders and going through the more than 180 submissions the inquiry received.

Now I want to hear from you.

During the campaign, what I heard from our community was that you wanted to see a target legislated but you wanted that target to have integrity and more ambition.

Since the government's climate bill has been released, I've heard from a number of experts and community stakeholders that, while it's good the government is slowly moving in the right direction, there are some troubling deficiencies with this Bill that could undermine its ability to make meaningful change.

Now that we’ve seen the legislation and what the experts have to say, I want to know what you think.

This will help guide my decision-making when the Bills come to the Senate for a vote.

I’ve put together a very short survey where you can leave your feedback, ask questions and share your ideas - you can access that here.

Many submissions to the Senate inquiry recommended amendments to the Bills that would strengthen their operation and I am considering these suggestions and potential amendments now.

Senators Jacqui Lambie and Tammy Tyrrell, and I have proposed an amendment that would require the Federal Government to report on the emissions impact of its federal budget measures.

This simple accountability measure would add significant integrity to what scientists have agree is a low target.

Today I am releasing an exposure draft copy of our amendment which you can read here and share your feedback with me.

Jobs and Skills Summit

As many of you would be aware, the Federal Government is hosting its Jobs and Skills Summit this Thursday and Friday here in Canberra.

Participation by Independents is limited but I will be attending the first few sessions on Thursday morning and will report back to our community afterwards.

Treasury has released an agenda and an issues paper for the summit and have advised it will be broadcast via the APH website on Channel 115.

The government has said that the outcomes from the Jobs Summit will feed into a broader Employment White Paper which will open for submissions later this year.

As we know, the ACT has been among the hardest hit areas for skills and workforce shortages.

I will undertake further, detailed consultation with our community to feed into the White Paper process.

For now if there are specific comments, ideas or policy you’d like to feed into the Jobs and Skills Summit you can provide comment against each of the agenda items here. You can also ask questions or leave more general comments/ideas.

Of course you are always welcome to shoot through an email, call the office or pop in for a chat as well.

Working Groups

Just a reminder that we are in the process of setting up ongoing policy working groups on different issues, with ones on Climate and Housing having already kicked off. If you’d like to get involved please complete this form.

Thanks for taking the time to share your views on these important issues that affect us all.

Kind regards,

Senator David Pocock