States would lose their legal powers to make companies disclose data on greenhouse gas emissions and energy under a proposed Federal Government takeover that a constitutional expert said would undermine state-based climate change initiatives, reported The Age (30/8/2007, p. 5).
Federal legislation overrides state and territory laws: In the first big step towards creating a national emissions trading scheme, the Government had introducted legislation setting out how big industrial polluters would publically report their emissions from October 2009. The law would override the states’ and territories’ ability to compel companies to reveal data about greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse-savings projects, energy consumption and production.
The Age, 30/8/2007, p. 5