David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, thank you. The Senate made amendments to the Nature Repair Market Bill 2023 that addressed the EPBC and gas extraction. The Nationals and the Liberals believe that this is an opportune time to also pursue an opportunity to look at carbon capture, storage and sequestration, particularly on shore. At the moment, there is a development in my own electorate where a carbon capture and storage project will collect carbon from a coal-fired power station and inject it into the Precipice. That goes through the Great Artesian Basin, the biggest potable water source for this country. It services stock and domestic use right across the Great Artesian Basin.

We obviously support carbon capture and storage, but it has to be in the appropriate place. The technology is emerging, and we support that technology, but it has to be done at an appropriate place where we have confidence in the approvals process. At the moment, the Queensland government will be the ones that will make that determination, and what we feel is that this is a national environmental asset that should also trigger the water trigger under the EPBC Act to ensure that proper approval processes are taking place and there is oversight by all levels of government, to give confidence to those primary producers and to our communities who rely on the Great Artesian Basin for their water supply. This is a commonsense solution to what is an emerging problem in understanding the science and the technology, which we do believe we should invest in. We don't walk away from the fact that carbon capture and storage will play a very important part in reducing our emissions, and we should continue to make those investments, as the Biden administration has, with over $1.2 billion worth of investment in reducing US emissions. But with that comes a responsibility for us as legislators to protect our environment, our way of life and Australian agriculture.

Appreciating the size of the Great Artesian Basin, the sheer magnitude of the area which it covers and the reliance on it by agriculture and our communities means that it is beholden on us, not just for now but for the future, to protect these communities and to protect the environment for future generations. As the technology and science evolve, the opportunity for these companies to make these investments will continue to provide itself there. But, until that's proven on technology that is new to the world, particularly in this form in this model that is being proposed in south-west Queensland, it poses too many risks. As legislators, we should propose the precautionary principle to make sure that we make a sensible decision here in this parliament to protect our environment, protect these communities and make sure that we work with the science and the technology at a methodical pace that gives everyone confidence. This is the opportunity for this parliament today to give that confidence and greater investment confidence for carbon capture storage into the future, and to do that in harmony with Australian agriculture, our environment and particularly our communities.

We believe that this is a sensible amendment that posed itself as an opportunity when there was an amendment in the Senate to the EPBC Act. We believe that acting responsibly in understanding the impact on the Great Artesian Basin and making sure that this legislation would give that protection of another lens of oversight would give confidence to our regional communities not just in my electorate but across the Great Artesian Basin that could be impacted by this. We think this is a sensible amendment that gives everyone confidence to move forward, that gives approval-process certainty and that gives the community certainty. I ask the House to accept this amendment as a commonsense approach to protecting our environment and nature.

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