David Pocock was an early supporter of the Albanese government’s target but has concerns about accountability.

David Pocock was an early supporter of the Albanese government’s target but has concerns about accountability.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The trio of senators want all budget measures above a certain dollar amount yet to be determined to be assessed for their impact on Australia’s carbon emissions.

“I’m not there to be a rubber stamp for Labor and the Greens;there were seven amendments in the lower house[from crossbenchers],” Pocock toldThe Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age.

“We have raised issues[in meetings with Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen] of looking at the federal budget through the lens of our carbon budget. Now that we have a target set in law,this seems sensible to me. We have some sensible amendments to really strengthen this bill.”

Senators Tammy Tyrrell and Jacqui Lambie,pictured here during the election campaign in May,think the current bill has too many gaps in the detail.

Senators Tammy Tyrrell and Jacqui Lambie,pictured here during the election campaign in May,think the current bill has too many gaps in the detail.Credit:Grant Wells

The government agreed to amendments from six of the independents MPs and one from the Greens,although it didn’t need any of their votes to pass the bill through the lower house.

Bowen thanked “the majority of members” who voted for the bill on Friday for playing a constructive role in “a very big step towards ending the climate wars in Australia”.

Lambie said changes to the bill in the lower house “don’t really get to a big gap in the bill” but she and Tyrrell were prepared to be constructive in how to close it.

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“It wraps up every bit of emissions reduction in a neat package,but that ends up hiding all the details,” she said.

The proposed “carbon impact assessment” could examine the impact of the $8 billion annual diesel fuel rebate given to mining companies on the government’s 43 per cent emissions reduction target. Emissions reduction projects funded by government agencies such as the Clean Energy Finance Corporation may also be scrutinised.

Ministers already have to provide a financial impact assessment when proposing new spending measures. That assessment is included in the explanatory memorandum for legislation,along with statements about the human rights and regulatory implications of new laws.

Lambie said the proposals for reporting progress on cutting emissions did not “force federal politicians to show their hand— show us which policies are working and which are pulling in the wrong direction”.

“I agree with Senator Pocock that a target isn’t worth the paper it’s written on unless there’s some integrity to it.

“In my mind,if the federal government wants to pass a target into law,but it doesn’t want to tell us what it’s doing to get there,then we should worry about their commitment to the target in the first place.”

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Pocock also flagged concern about two Australian carbon credit unit methods established in the final days of the previous parliament which,he believes,will create questionable credits and which are currently being reviewed.

The government needs the backing of the Greens plus one further senator to pass any legislation the Coalition opposes,such as the climate bill.

Pocock,a progressive ACT senator,and Lambie and Tyrrell,from Tasmania,are the most likely of the six crossbench senators to back the bill as they have already said they back the target.

Their warning their support can’t be taken for granted comes a day after the Greens confirmed they would vote for the climate bill in both houses of parliament,and as Labor hailed an end to the “climate wars”.

The Greens backed the bill through the lower house even though party leader Adam Bandt condemned the target as “weak” and vowed to switch focus to fighting against new coal and gas projects.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday the harder work of outlining plans to cut emissions and then doing it could now happen.

“You have to have an economy-wide transition here. It will take effort. It’s not easy,but we can do it. And while doing it,we can create economic activity – create jobs,particularly in our regions,” he told ABC Melbourne.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley.Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.

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