Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

If there was ever a bill brought to this House that was a total beat-up it is this legislation that the member for Cowper has put before the parliament today. I grew up on the North Coast of New South Wales not far from Maclean, and I understand the issues concerning fruit bats in the area. I am very familiar with this particular issue, which relates to the colony of bats that have been spilling over into the grounds of the Maclean High School. I am aware of the community concern, just as I am aware of the beat-up that the member for Cowper has been promulgating in the media. I think he really needs to look at what it is that a member of parliament does and to accept that his role is one of responsibility.

This Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Public Health and Safety) Amendment Bill 2010 is not needed, as the minister’s delegation decided on 28 October that New South Wales could—I repeat, could—proceed with the dispersal of the grey headed flying fox from the Maclean High School without further assessment if it was undertaken in a particular manner. The decision includes conditions to ensure that there is no significant impact on the species. I think that is quite clear. Action has already been taken—very decisive action—to deal with the problem whilst at the same time not causing any problems for the grey headed flying fox. There are some potential problems this bill could lead to—problems which the member for Cowper, if he thought through them properly, would understand—in that the bill, were it to be adopted, would lead to a circumvention of the normal environmental assessment process as set out in the EPBC Act.

We can always argue that there are problems with the EPBC Act and that in this particular case it should be circumvented. If you do it once, however, you create a precedent and then every single time there is an issue there is an argument to circumvent it. It sets a precedent that could totally undermine the Commonwealth’s environmental protection legislation scheme. That is a much broader and much bigger issue. The member for Cowper has brought this particular bill to the House in order to play politics. He has done it to gain a few extra votes back in the electorate, to get him some coverage in the newspaper and to get him time on TV. He is prepared to do this rather than look at what the bill could lead to.

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