Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

For the sake of the argument, if we accept the minister's explanation—that it's the right thing to do; that it's an appropriate thing to do—I suppose it's like accepting that a country that's called the Democratic Republic of North Korea is actually a democratic republic. But we'll put that aside, for the sake of moving on.

Let's just dwell, then, on the environmental aspect of this. I have two questions for the minister. I think I might ask them separately, to make it easier for everyone to follow.

The minister must be aware that changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and the Department of Industry, Science and Resources' review into 'Clarifying consultation requirements for offshore oil and gas storage regulatory approvals' are both currently underway. Both are highly relevant to the proposed changes in schedule 2, part 2. So—and this is the question—why not remove these changes from the bill and await the outcome of both of those processes before proceeding? Why are we getting ahead of ourselves in this way?

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