Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

The reason is: I believe that any legislation that comes before this House that has the words 'gas' or 'offshore gas' in it will go through the same process that we've been through—it wouldn't matter what it was about, Member. So we can keep doing this, time and time again. I don't think it's worth it, because I really am prioritising making sure that the consultation processes and rules are clear for everyone, particularly traditional owners and the wider community. Sadly, whenever there is a bill before this parliament with the word 'gas' in it, it turns into a theatre and an opportunity for the ideological debates that we've seen, with the three-word slogans from the Greens political party, to progress, that are thoroughly unrelated to safety or, really, the other measures that we're talking about, which are about ensuring the proper consultation rules for offshore gas projects for the benefit of the whole community.

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