The Morrison government says a new Bill allowing it to regulate a CO2 injection site that is partly in Victorian waters will help to develop Australia's hydrogen industry.
Chief scientist Dr Alan Finkel and a top carbon capture and storage expert have praised efforts to develop a coal-to-hydrogen industry in Victoria's Latrobe Valley.
A multi-billion dollar brown coal-to-hydrogen industry can only succeed in Victoria if the CarbonNet geosequestration project goes ahead, the federal and state government have acknowledged.
The Victorian government plans to drill an offshore well, as part of its investigations into the feasibility of capturing power industry and industrial CO2 emissions and sequestering them deep beneath the seabed.
The federal and Victorian governments should clarify exactly what constitutes leakage from a site that is used to store CO2, according to HWL Ebsworth partner Dr Meredith Gibbs.