Industry welcomes pipeline legislation - Breaking News - Business - Breaking News

New legislation for planned gas pipelines has been welcomed by the pipeline industry body, but it warns rushing the laws through could result in poor policy.
After a review of the national gas access regime the federal government has introduced incentives giving new pipelines the possibility of a regulation-free investment period for 15 years.
The Australian Pipeline Industry Association (APIA) chief executive Cheryl Cartwright said the move would reduce the impact of regulation on Australia's pipeline infrastructure.
However she said she would have liked to seen the regulation-free period extended to 20 years given the long term nature of the investment into pipelines.
"The legislation introduced into parliament today is a small part of the Federal government's response to the productivity commission in gas transmission pipelines," she said.
"Today's legislation is a step towards demonstration by the government that it appreciates the need for certainty to encourage investment in gas transmission infrastructure."
She said the full response would only be released for industry comment in July, which would not give stakeholders much time to comment on the legislation.
"We are in danger of forcing through poor policy in order to meet a deadline," Ms Cartwright said.
© 2006 AAP