Sponsor speech Supports
Larissa Waters
Waters supports the bill and says it would let people, businesses and governments sue coal and gas corporations for climate damage.
Read in Hansard ↗Liability for Climate Change Damage (Make the Polluters Pay)
Current status
This bill did not become law and is no longer proceeding.
Policy area
Climate, energy & environment
What does this bill do?
People, businesses and governments in Australia could sue big coal, oil, gas and coal power companies for climate damage caused by events such as cyclones and floods.
Why was it introduced?
Climate change-fuelled events such as Tropical Cyclone Alfred left victims bearing damage caused by major fossil fuel emitters. This bill lets people and governments sue big coal, oil, gas and coal power companies for compensation, and lets the Federal CourtThe court given power under the bill to hear claims, award damages and order a company to stop or reduce harmful activity. order emitters to reduce or stop harmful activities.
Broader context
The bill was framed around a long-running argument that major fossil fuel companies had known since the first IPCCThe UN climate science body whose first report is used here as the point from which big emitters are said to have known the risks of fossil fuel pollution. report in 1990 that their emissions would drive global warming, while Australians facing worsening fires, floods, storms and cyclones still carried the costs themselves. After earlier versions were put forward following the Black Summer fires and then revived as climate impacts mounted, the Greens introduced this 2025 bill after Tropical Cyclone Alfred to let people, businesses and governments seek compensation from large emitters, but it lapsed when Parliament ended.
Key criticism
No significant public case against the bill is recorded so far, and publicly available sources does not show a developed argument that it would cause clear legal, economic or policy harm. The recorded parliamentary speeches were supportive, so any criticism recorded so far appears limited or absent rather than broad or organised.
Who supported it?
Senator Larissa Waters introduced this bill. Speeches supporting it came from Greens.
Introduced in Senate 26 Mar 2025
Failed in Senate 21 July 2025
Did not reach House —
Did not become law —
Did it become law?
No
The bill did not complete passage through Parliament.
Final passage
No final passage
The bill has not completed passage and is no longer proceeding.
Time before failure
117 days
From introduction to the final recorded step before the bill stopped proceeding
Meaning
What does this bill do?
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People, businesses and governments in Australia could sue big coal, oil, gas and coal power companies for climate damage caused by events such as cyclones and floods.
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Large fossil fuel producers and coal-fired power station operators would be covered if their emissions went over 1 million tonnes in any 12-month period from 1 September 1990 onward.
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The Federal CourtThe court given power under the bill to hear claims, award damages and order a company to stop or reduce harmful activity. could award compensation and order a big emitter to cut back or stop activities that may cause future climate damage.
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Courts could base compensation on a company's share of global emissions, and could also make one company pay the full amount where the law allows shared responsibility.
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Claims could cover climate damage suffered from 1 January 2025, even if the emissions that contributed to it happened earlier.
Show source excerpts
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This Bill makes fossil fuel companies liable for climate change damage, giving victims of climate change fuelled events, such as Tropical Cyclone Alfred, the right to bring an action against thermal coal, oil and gas companies for climate change damage.
Liability for Climate Change Damage (Make the Polluters Pay) explanatory memorandum -
Major emitters of greenhouse gases, including fossil fuel producers and owners or operators of coal-fired power stations, will be liable for climate change damage if their total emissions are greater than 1 million tonnes in any 12-month period that began on or after 1 September 1990. The first Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report was released in that year, unambiguously linking fossil fuels to global warming. From at least this time onwards, every fossil fuel corporation has known, or should have known, about the consequences of their actions. For corporations that actively knew about the consequences of their actions earlier, liability will attach from that earlier date.
Liability for Climate Change Damage (Make the Polluters Pay) explanatory memorandum -
Subclause 6(3) provides for the type of relief the court can grant, including damages and an injunction, which can include any terms the court thinks fit including requiring a major emitter to reduce or cease activities that may cause climate change damage in the future.
Liability for Climate Change Damage (Make the Polluters Pay) explanatory memorandum -
Subclause 6(4) sets out how the court may determine the amount of damages the major emitter is liable for. When deciding, the court may assume the major emitter’s share of the climate change damage (as per subclause 5(2)) is at least the same as their share of total global greenhouse gas emissions. Subclause 6(5) states that nothing in subclause 6(4) limits the court’s ability to determine that a major emitter is jointly and severally liable for the entirety of the damage.
Liability for Climate Change Damage (Make the Polluters Pay) explanatory memorandum -
Subclause 10(1) confirms the Bill will apply in relation to climate change damage suffered on or after 1 January 2025, whether or not the greenhouse gas emissions that cause the damage occurred before, on or after 1 January 2025. This is to allow actions to be brought for damage that occurs before the commencement of this Bill.
Liability for Climate Change Damage (Make the Polluters Pay) explanatory memorandum
Context
Broader context for this bill
The bill was framed around a long-running argument that major fossil fuel companies had known since the first IPCCThe UN climate science body whose first report is used here as the point from which big emitters are said to have known the risks of fossil fuel pollution. report in 1990 that their emissions would drive global warming, while Australians facing worsening fires, floods, storms and cyclones still carried the costs themselves. After earlier versions were put forward following the Black Summer fires and then revived as climate impacts mounted, the Greens introduced this 2025 bill after Tropical Cyclone Alfred to let people, businesses and governments seek compensation from large emitters, but it lapsed when Parliament ended.
- 01 Sept 1990
First IPCCThe UN climate science body whose first report is used here as the point from which big emitters are said to have known the risks of fossil fuel pollution. report links fossil fuels to global warming
The bill used the date of the first IPCCThe UN climate science body whose first report is used here as the point from which big emitters are said to have known the risks of fossil fuel pollution. report as the point from which major emitters generally knew or should have known the climate harm tied to their emissions.
Liability for Climate Change Damage (Make the Polluters Pay) explanatory memorandum ↗ - 24 Feb 2020
Black Summer losses drive the first make-polluters-pay bill
When an earlier version was introduced, its backers tied it to megafires, drought and reef damage and argued that climate victims should be able to recover some costs from fossil fuel companies.
Hansard ↗ - 24 May 2021
The proposal returns as bushfires, storms, floods and cyclones intensify
A later reintroduction argued that increasingly severe weather and ecosystem damage showed climate harms were already hitting communities, businesses and farmers across Australia.
Hansard ↗ - Mar 2025
Tropical Cyclone Alfred leaves victims bearing climate damage costs
The explanatory memorandum and second reading speech pointed to victims of Tropical Cyclone Alfred as a current example of people and businesses carrying losses the bill would try to shift onto major emitters.
Australian Parliament House ↗ - 26 Mar 2025
Greens introduce the bill to let climate victims sue big emitters
The bill was introduced to let affected people, businesses and governments seek damages and injunctions against large coal, oil, gas and coal-power operators for climate change damageThe kinds of loss the bill lets people claim for, including property damage, health impacts, emergency costs and adaptation costs caused by climate change..
Parliamentary timeline ↗ - 21 July 2025
The bill lapses at the end of Parliament
Because the bill lapsed rather than passing, the proposed new pathway for climate damage claims against major emitters did not become law.
Parliamentary timeline ↗
Legislative route
How did it move through Parliament?
House Senate
Introduced 26 Mar 2025
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
Introduced and read a first time
Second reading opened 26 Mar 2025
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
Second reading moved
Lapsed at end of Parliament 21 July 2025
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
Key criticism
The main case against this bill
No significant public case against the bill is recorded so far, and publicly available sources does not show a developed argument that it would cause clear legal, economic or policy harm. The recorded parliamentary speeches were supportive, so any criticism recorded so far appears limited or absent rather than broad or organised.
No party represented in the cited debate material argued against the bill.
Votes
Recorded votes
No recorded votes were found before this bill stopped proceeding.
Parliamentary debate
Who spoke, and what they said
Start here — lead voices
All speeches by bloc
Greens
1 speaker · 1 support
Greens
1 speaker · 1 support
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Larissa Waters ★ Waters supports the bill and says it would let people, businesses and governments sue coal and gas corporations for climate damage.
“I rise today in favour of the Liability for Climate Change Damage (Make the Polluters Pay) Bill 2025, an Australian Greens Bill that will make coal and gas corporations liable for the damage caused by climate disasters.”
Read the full speech in Hansard ↗
Record
Full record
- Status
- Not Proceeding -- Collected from the APH bill page.
- Originating house
- Senate
- 26 Mar 2025
Senate · Introduced and read a first time
Introduced
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
- 26 Mar 2025
Senate · Second reading moved
Second reading opened
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
- 21 July 2025
Senate · Lapsed at end of Parliament
Lapsed at end of Parliament
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.