Hodgins-May, Sen Steph (The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT)

Senator HODGINS-MAY: I'm hearing all these different examples. I'm not an expert on CCS, and it sounds like not many people are, but all of these geologies are so different. What makes one successful—and I put 'successful' in quotations because I think there's a big question as to whether it's actually cost-efficient—doesn't offer any guarantee that in another geology it's going to work. I'm keen to know in particular why we are putting so many eggs in this Bonaparte project, for example, giving it significant major project status, when we don't have any comparable examples that are working well and that are cost-effective. Mr Jeremenko : There are examples, as we've mentioned, and we'll get you the further detail of overseas operations. The Climate Change Authority has said that CCS is a necessary part of decarbonisation. The International Renewable Energy Agency has said that CCS has an 'indispensable role in global deep decarbonisation strategies': Capturing CO2 is not an experimental technology … It is well known by scientific experts who understand this technology much better than the officials here that this is a well-tried and proven technology for capturing carbon. Australia is taking its first steps, almost, compared to the experience of the overseas jurisdictions that have been up and running for quite a while in doing so. As outlined in the Future Gas Strategy, it continues to be a very important part of government policymaking to encourage and remove regulatory barriers to CCS in Australia.