Amending Tasmania's climate change legislation

The Climate Change (State Action) Amendment Bill 2021 (the Bill) was prepared to amend the Climate Change (State Action) Act 2008 (the Act). The Bill was tabled in Parliament on 24 November 2021 and can be viewed on the Parliament Tasmania website.

The Bill was developed in response to the findings of the most recent independent review of the Act; the Tasmanian Emissions Pathway Review; the Economic Impact Analysis project; and extensive consultation with business, industry and the community.

Key elements of the Bill

The Bill will strengthen Tasmania’s legislative framework for action on climate change by:

legislating a new emissions reduction target for Tasmania of net zero emissions, or lower, from 2030;
establishing a legislative framework for the preparation of emissions reduction and resilience plans for key industry sectors, to be updated every five years and developed in partnership with industry representatives;
establishing a legislative requirement for the Tasmanian Government to prepare a climate change action plan at least every five years;
establishing a legislative requirement for the Tasmanian Government to prepare a statewide climate change risk assessment every five years;
consolidating the existing ten objects of the Act around five key themes, including explicit reference to a consultative partnership approach to climate action; local government; and the consideration of future generations in the Government’s response to climate change; and
establishing a requirement for the Minister for Climate Change to table in Parliament: an annual greenhouse gas emissions report; an annual climate change activity statement; the climate change action plan; the statewide climate change risk assessment; and emissions reduction and resilience plans.

Also in response to the independent review of the Act, the Tasmanian Government has committed to develop a whole-of-government policy framework to ensure relevant Government plans, policies and strategies consider climate change.

Consultation on the Draft Bill: What we heard

A draft Bill was released for consultation from 13 October 2021 to 14 November 2021. Sixty-four submissions on the draft Bill were received; 39 from individuals and 25 from organisations. The submissions are published below.

The recommendations in the submissions varied from minor administrative issues with the draft Bill, to more significant policy issues, such as legislating sectoral targets; legislating exclusion of sectoral targets; establishing an independent advisory council; and legislating consideration of climate change in government decision making.

Submissions were generally supportive of the proposed new emissions reduction target. Some submissions recommended the Government set a more ambitious target.

What changes were made to the Bill in response to consultation feedback?

In response to consultation feedback on the draft Bill, the Bill was amended to:

include explicit references to children and young people and local government in the objects of the Act;
ensure the development of a climate change action plan is informed by the most recent statewide climate change risk assessment and emissions reduction and resilience plans;
require that a climate change action plan is published in formats that are accessible to a wide range of audiences, including children and young people;
require the Minister for Climate Change to consider the impact of climate change on future generations when developing a statewide climate change risk assessment;
include a number of measures to increase the transparency and accountability of the Tasmanian Government’s climate response; and
make a number of minor adjustments to the definitions in the Bill, including adding a formal definition of climate change.

What’s next?

The Bill will be read a second time and debated in Parliament at the beginning of the 2022 parliamentary sitting year. The Bill must be approved by both Houses of Parliament before it can receive Royal Assent.

Submissions on the Draft Bill to amend the Act

We received 64 written submissions to the Draft Bill to amend the Climate Change (State Action) Act 2008. Six submissions were submitted confidentially and will not be published. You can read the public submissions below.

While we make every effort to publish items in an accessible format, this is not always possible for documents prepared by others. Some of these submissions may not meet accessibility guidelines.

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