Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

These additional functions will help the energy sector plan ahead for new investments in infrastructure.

This is all part of COAG’s national reform agenda, put in place by the Prime Minister. The Rudd government is all about ensuring that we work together harmoniously—and I am going to say something that might upset the member for Oxley—as one nation. I use that term deliberately because I wish to reclaim it for the Australian Labor Party. Could I just say as an aside that hopefully the election that is taking place in Queensland will be the last election in which we hear from that failed businesswoman from Ipswich.

COAG’s national reform agenda is about bringing leaders together through COAG to remove the duplication that exists between Commonwealth and state regulation and service delivery. This has heralded a new era of Commonwealth-state cooperation that has ensured greater consistency across the board on health, education, banking and environmental issues. The new era of cooperation has also put an end to the blame game. The Rudd government believes that it is simply not an effective way to govern a country to point the finger at state governments, be they Labor, Liberal or Liberal National. The blame game is not the way to go. It is far better for citizens and much more productive to get around the table, thrash out the issues with a bit of give and take and come up with a solution that works for everybody. Of course, there are not as many short-term political points to be scored, but it is better for the country in the long run. After all, that is what our constituents put us in this place for—to look after the long-term interests of the country.

The bill also amends the Australian Energy Market Act 2004 and the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 to reflect a change in the name of the Western Australian gas legislation. As Western Australia has already adopted elements of the National Gas Law, Commonwealth legislation needs to correctly reference WA legislation. The Western Australian legislation will enable parts of the national gas access regime to apply to parts of the Commonwealth’s offshore area.

I understand that there are some time constraints with this legislation. The Australian Energy Market Operator, AEMO, is scheduled to commence operations on 1 July, and the Western Australian legislation, intended for the end of this month, requires immediate consequential amendments from the Commonwealth. Obviously, as a cooperative Commonwealth government, we are always happy to help our good friends in the Liberal Party in Western Australia and look after their concerns.

Since the election of the Rudd government, we have seen a lot more cooperation between the states. The Western Australian government understands this. Unfortunately, there is still a rump, in Queensland particularly, that just does not get it. The Liberal National Party are all about kicking the Commonwealth. Just the other day I noticed that the leader of the Liberal National Party, Lawrence Springborg, had announced a change to an intersection in my electorate. The traffic engineers had recommended that Kessels Road go underneath Mains Road, but he spontaneously announced that the recommendation by the traffic engineers would be reversed. It is good to see that very early on in the election campaign he was happy to start the blame game.

Today he said that he is very much a climate change sceptic. He was speaking with the authority of the fact that he is a farmer and therefore—he was almost paraphrasing Bob Dylan—‘you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows’. Fortunately, the world has moved on a little bit since then—

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