Greenhouse gas bill amendments pass the parliament

Amendments to the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Bill were supported by both major parties in House of Representatives debate on Wednesday.

"Having effective mechanisms in place to measure emissions is absolutely vital for public confidence in the operation of emissions trading," Treasurer Wayne Swan told parliament tonight.

"This data will be used to inform government policy."

While he was happy to see the bill passed, Swan used his second speech on the legislation to damn the opposition.

"Those of us on this side understand how important it is to tackle dangerous climate change that we deal with this as an economic issue.

"We are actually serious about dealing with dangerous climate change unlike those on the other side of the house who can't make up their mind which way they are going."