Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was when the present opposition was in government, and we did not hear from the member for Wide Bay at that time the call that is now being made in this motion, which is for the minister for the environment not to wait until the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act processes are finished but rather to jump in straightaway and take an action that is well outside the scheme of the act. When in government the National Party and the Liberal Party did not pay much attention to proper processes, and perhaps it should be no surprise that now, in opposition, they seem to have thrown proper processes out the window altogether. It is probably with good reason that they did not approach the former minister for the environment, given his track record in not following proper processes. We could refer to the conduct of the former minister for the environment, the member for Wentworth, in ignoring the advice of his department to invest only $2 million— (Time expired)

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