Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is the National Party that is stopping this happening. As I say, they could do it tomorrow; they could walk in and see Premier Barry O'Farrell and they could make sure that that happens. We will keep raising that at every opportunity that we have.

Whilst I say it is the state that regulates and licenses it, we are very proud, from a federal Labor government level, about what we have done. We have listened to the community and taken action. We have worked very closely to make sure that happens. This new legislation really is an important step. It effectively means that, for an area like the North Coast, coal seam gas mining could potentially be stopped if it is determined to be a risk to our very important water resources. It does allow, for the first time, for the federal government to apply the provisions of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act to water. It really is a major step forward and it is one that people within the community have called upon for a long period of time. We are very pleased to be at this stage, where we can say we have heard the concerns and we have acted.

There were other concerns that many individuals and groups had. One of them is about future proofing into the coming years in terms of what action can be taken. If only we could future proof that the Liberals and Nationals would not get in and tear this up, that would be a good thing. It is our concern that they will do that, that they will change it if this does go through; it will be interesting to see what happens. If we could future proof the Liberal and National parties' environmental vandalism, that would be a great step forward. It certainly is a concern to people in our region when we look at the extent they will go to in terms of our precious environment.

Mr Turnbull interjecting—

We see it every day with the actions of the National Party in our area, and we know they are environmental vandals. We look across the board. It is not just when it comes to CSG; we see it in so many other areas in how they are acting in terms of their councils.

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