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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-06-01 Daily Xml
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Bills

National Gas (South Australia) (Market Transparency) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (16:36): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the National Gas (South Australia) Act 2008. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (16:37): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading explanation and explanation of clauses inserted in Hansard without my reading them.

Leave granted.

Government is amending national energy legislation to expand gas market transparency in the eastern and northern Australian gas markets, which seeks to further facilitate the efficient trade of gas and infrastructure services, promote more effective competition, and enable market participants to respond more efficiently to changing market conditions.

Improved market transparency is intended to address a range of information gaps and asymmetries across the eastern and northern Australian gas markets. These gaps and asymmetries mean not all participants in the market have a common understanding of market prices as well as supply and demand conditions. As a result, these gaps hinder the ability of the market to respond efficiently to changing market conditions, impede effective competition and the efficient trade of gas and infrastructure services and result in inefficient decisions being made about consumption, production, the use of infrastructure services and longer-term investment.

The National Gas (South Australia) (Market Transparency) Amendment Bill 2021 seeks to amend the National Gas Law, set out in the schedule to the National Gas (South Australia) Act 2008, to introduce new, and expand existing, gas market transparency functions and obligations.

The Bill will confer on the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) a new function to collect, analyse and publish gas price information and reporting. This will address the currently limited publicly available information on prices payable for goods and services in the natural gas industry and address information asymmetries faced by gas users in negotiations. Information to be published will include aggregated and anonymised price information for goods and services in the natural gas industry.

To ensure the AER can successfully perform this new function, the Bill provides clear information gathering powers. Flexibility is provided in the Bill for the AER to publish an instrument which specifies the information they require to perform the gas price function and the persons responsible for providing the information.

The Bill expands the Australian Energy Market Operator's information gathering powers for the Gas Statement of Opportunities (GSOO). The GSOO provides an assessment of the adequacy (or otherwise) of the supply side of the market to meet forecast demand over a 20 year outlook period, and analyses a range of potential scenarios that may impact the gas market, including identifying longer term development needs in the gas market.

The expansion of information gathering powers directly responds to concerns about the quality of information, which is obtained through voluntary surveys, that AEMO currently has to rely upon to prepare the GSOO.

The Bill expressly provides for persons in control of information related to the natural gas to provide such information to AEMO if required to do so under the National Gas Rules. It also provides for AEMO to make GSOO Procedures. The procedures are a form of statutory instrument for the collection of the information for the GSOO. Persons to whom the procedures apply are required to comply with them.

The Bill expands the scope of the Natural Gas Bulletin Board. The Natural Gas Bulletin Board provides market participants and other interested parties with ready access to information on the capacity and utilisation of key production, transportation and storage facilities in the east coast.

Expanding the scope of the Bulletin Board seeks to address information gaps, including opaqueness surrounding the supply and availability of gas in the eastern and northern Australian gas markets and lack of publicly available information on gas use by liquified natural gas facilities.

The information which must currently be contained on the Bulletin Board relates to natural gas services and secondary capacity. The Bill expands this scope to the natural gas industry.

In support of this expanded scope, the Bill places an obligation on persons in control of information related to the natural gas industry to provide such information to AEMO if required to do so under the National Gas Rules.

The Bill provides for the South Australian Minister to make the initial National Gas Rules that will implement the transparency reforms. Significant public consultation on the initial rules has already been undertaken. Once the initial National Gas Rules have been made, no further Rules can be made under this power.

The Australian Energy Market Commission is provided with power to make National Gas Rules on relevant gas market transparency matters going forward.

By introducing this reform, numerous benefits will accrue including lowering search and transaction costs, facilitating more efficient investment and enabling more informed and efficient decisions to be made by market participants across the supply chain.

I note that the Opposition previously supported the introduction of new and expansion of existing gas market transparency functions and obligations in the national gas law, and I look forward to receiving their support in progressing this Bill through the parliament.

I commend this Bill to Members.

EXPLANATION OF CLAUSES

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

3—Amendment provisions

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of National Gas Law

4—Amendment of section 2—Definitions

Certain definitions are inserted or amended for the purposes of the measure.

5—Amendment of section 10—Things done by 1 service provider to be treated as being done by all of service provider group

Amendments are made to an interpretative provision under the Law.

6—Amendment of section 27—Functions and powers of the AER

Provision is made conferring functions on the AER in relation to goods or services in the natural gas industry.

7—Substitution of heading to Chapter 2 Part 1 Division 4

The heading to Chapter 2 Part 1 Division 4 is substituted.

Division 4—Regulatory information notices, general regulatory information orders and price information orders

8—Amendment of section 45—Meaning of general regulatory information order

Provision is made that a general regulatory information order does not include an order that is made as a price information order.

9—Amendment of section 46—Meaning of regulatory information notice

Provision is made that a regulatory information notice does not include an order that is made as a price information order.

10—Insertion of section 46A

Section 46A is inserted:

46A—Meaning of price information order

New section 46A is an interpretative provision relating to price information orders.

11—Amendment of section 48—Service and making of regulatory information instruments

Amendments are made relating to price information orders.

12—Amendment of section 50—AER must consult before publishing a general regulatory information order

This amendment is consequential.

13—Substitution of section 51

Section 51 is substituted:

51—Publication requirements for orders

Provision is made for publication requirements for orders.

14—Amendment of section 53—Form and content of regulatory information instrument

Amendments are made relating to price information orders.

15—Amendment of section 54—Further provision about the information that may be described in a regulatory information instrument

These amendments are technical or consequential.

16—Amendment of section 55—Further provision about manner in which information must be provided to AER or kept

These amendments are technical.

17—Amendment of section 57—Compliance with general regulatory information order

An amendment is made relating to compliance with general regulatory information or price information orders.

18—Amendment of section 57A—Confidentiality issues

Section 57A is disapplied to price information orders.

19—Amendment of section 57B—Disclosure of information given to AER in compliance with regulatory information instrument

These amendments are technical in relation to price information orders.

20—Amendment of section 58—Exemption from compliance with general regulatory information order

This relates to amending the heading to section 58 of the Law.

21—Amendment of section 59—Assumptions where there is non-compliance with regulatory information instrument

Section 59 is disapplied to price information orders.

22—Amendment of section 63—Protection against self-incrimination

This amendment is technical in relation to price information orders.

23—Amendment of section 74—Subject matter for National Gas Rules

These amendments are technical or consequential.

24—Amendment of section 91D—Object and content of gas statement of opportunities

This amendment is technical.

25—Amendment of section 91DA—AEMO's obligation in regard to gas statement of opportunities

AEMO is conferred with functions relating to collecting, collating and deriving certain information.

26—Insertion of sections 91DB to 91DH

New sections 91DB to 91DH are inserted:

91DB—Information for the gas statement of opportunities

Provision is made in relation to persons giving AEMO information for the gas statement of opportunities.

91DC—Person cannot rely on duty of confidence to avoid compliance with obligation

This section provides that a person must not refuse to comply with the requirement in section 91DB on the ground of any duty of confidence.

91DD—Giving AEMO false or misleading information

This section provides that a person must not give GSOO information to AEMO that the person knows is false or misleading in a material particular.

91DE—Immunity of persons giving GSOO information to AEMO

Provision is made in relation to immunity of persons giving GSOO information to AEMO.

91DF—GSOO Procedures

AEMO is authorised to make GSOO Procedures.

91DG—Nature of GSOO Procedures

Provision is made about the nature of GSOO Procedures.

91DH—Compliance with GSOO Procedures

This section provides for compliance with GSOO Procedures.

27—Amendment of section 91MB—Compliance with Retail Market Procedures

Section 91MB(2) is deleted.

28—Amendment of section 218—AEMO's obligation to maintain Bulletin Board

These amendments are technical.

29—Amendment of section 219—AEMO's other functions as operator of Natural Gas Services Bulletin Board

These amendments are technical.

30—Substitution of sections 223 and 223A

Sections 223 and 223A are substituted by section 223:

223—Obligation to give information to AEMO

Provision is made for a person who has possession or control of information in relation to the natural gas industry to be required to give the information to AEMO for use in connection with the Natural Gas Services Bulletin Board.

31—Amendment of section 224—Person cannot rely on duty of confidence to avoid compliance with obligation

This amendment is consequential.

32—Amendment of section 225—Giving AEMO false and misleading information

This amendment is consequential.

33—Amendment of section 226—Immunity of persons giving information to AEMO

This amendment is consequential.

34—Insertion of section 226A

New section 226A is inserted:

226A—Provision of certain information to AER

Provision is made for the Rules to provide for certain requirements on persons subject to the operation of the Chapter to provide certain information to the AER (and other matters).

35—Amendment of section 228A—Compliance with BB procedures

Section 228A(2) is deleted.

36—Insertion of section 294FA

New section 294FA is inserted:

294FA—South Australian Minister to make initial Rules relating to enhanced market transparency

The South Australian Minister is authorised to make the initial Rules relating to enhanced market transparency.

37—Amendment of Schedule 1—Subject matter for the National Gas Rules

Certain subject matters on which National Gas Rules may be made are inserted into Schedule 1 of the Law. Other amendments to subject matters in the Schedule are consequential.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Patterson.

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