Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Hansard source

I started off as a very enthusiastic supporter of the bill. I have very great respect for the minister. I think he is one of the finest ministers I've served with in this place—I'd go so far as to say that. Whether he has been forced to, or whatever the case may be, the bill has been watered down and watered down and watered down. If you put enough acid in a basic solution it will then become an acidic solution and that's what has happened here. The bill has shifted from a promotion of industry to serving the interests of minority groups and to serving the interests of the anticoal brigade. In India, which will soon be the biggest country on earth and the biggest economy on earth, there are 600 million people, and this is relevant to the change that has occurred in this bill through the government process. They have no electricity, so they have to use cow dung, grass and a bit of wood that they can find somewhere for all of their energy requirements—these poor people—and you're going to tell them they can't have coal. That's simply not going to fly. I am very sad to say that the bill which I started off with great enthusiasm for will now serve the interests of minority groups. It has got nothing to do with development. It has been corrupted to a point where it will fail to achieve its objectives. With very, very sad regret, I say that I will be opposing the bill.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a third time.

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