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

Much too much to say. The next step in this process was that the then federal Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Campbell, found that there was no reason for the proposed development to be treated as a controlled action, under the federal legislation, and that it did not require further assessment or approval under the act. In other words, this project was found not to have a significant impact on matters of national environmental significance.

On 8 November 2005, having extended the time for consideration, Senator Campbell formally said, ‘This is not a matter that is governed by the federal legislation.’ There were two more years of Liberal government until the change of government on 24 November last year—including a new environment minister, the present shadow Treasurer. We did not hear the present member for Cook, nor did we hear the former member for Cook, Mr Baird, demanding action from those two former Liberal ministers—Senator Campbell or the member for Wentworth. There is very possibly one strong and good reason the member for Cook was not making that call, because in September 2007 we learned from the former Treasurer, the member for Higgins, that he was strongly supporting the desalination plant. This is what he said in September 2007:

We have a situation where our capital cities are running out of water, and I think we should have a desalination plant for every capital city in Australia.

Another good reason we see nothing attacking former Liberal ministers for the environment from the present member for Cook, or indeed from his predecessor, is that the Liberal Party is only ever interested in scoring cheap political points. It is not the substance of the issue which interests the member for Cook; it is simply the question of how to boost his own visibility, perhaps, or how to use the issue to attack the Labor state government. Indeed, that is what he is seeking to do. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts has made it clear that, if there is any change to the project that results in potentially significant impacts on matters of national environmental significance, a new referral to the federal minister will be required, and that might lead to a new assessment process.

You might wonder why it is that the member for Cook is wasting the time of this parliament calling on the federal environment minister to do something which he has no power to do and which previous Liberal environment ministers have said they had no power to do. The first reason might be that the member for Cook is single-handedly, and somewhat ridiculously, trying to paint the Liberal Party as a party which actually cares about the environment.

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