Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Capricornia for the question. In 2008 there were a number of referrals for environmental approvals for projects led by Santos and QGC for coal seam gas projects in Queensland. Soon after receiving this portfolio, I travelled to Gladstone to inspect the sites and I also held meetings in Chinchilla with local government representatives and with some of the community groups that were opposed to the development. Last Friday I met the deadline that had been set for a decision under the EPBC Act and approved the projects subject to a large number of conditions. For the Santos proposal there were more than 300 conditions, for QGC there were more than 300 conditions and for the dredging project there were 52 conditions. Those conditions make sure of the essential protections which we must make—we must protect the Great Artesian Basin, we must protect the Great Barrier Reef, we must protect our waterways and our endangered species.

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