Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I take that interjection by the member for Kennedy. We're heading into election season and there's a bit of an odour of desperation wafting across the room from those opposite. When it comes to grasping at straws, the member for Flynn has a walk-on role in the next Wizard of Oz remake.

This motion is criticising a decision made not by this Labor government but by a delegate of Sussan Ley when she was the Minister for the Environment in the former Morrison coalition government—unbelievable! I remember seeing a photo of the member for Flynn holding up a sign saying, 'Save the GAB!'—the Great Artesian Basin—but it looked incomplete to me. What it should've said was: 'Save the GAB from my own environment minister!' This motion has nothing to do with the Albanese government. Labor supported the Senate to conduct a review into the matter, and earlier this year AgForce, too, sought a review of the decision made by the now Deputy Leader of the Opposition's delegate in the federal court. The federal court dismissed the case, so I won't comment further on such matters, but I will say that there is no decision before the government to oppose or reject. I repeat: no decision before the government to oppose or reject. What the member for Flynn is asking the Albanese government to do is not possible and would be unconstitutional. The time to review the decision has long passed. If there's one thing those opposite have shown in recent weeks, though, it's that deadlines aren't really their strong suit.

What is the state of the Liberal and National parties these days? It's just one stuff-up after another. First they announced some half-baked nuclear policy—the most expensive electricity on earth—then they couldn't get nominations in on time for local government, and now the member for Flynn is bringing a motion critical of his own deputy leader. He should've just handed it to her in the party room. The truth is those opposite are an absolute mess. They couldn't organise a rock fight in a gravel pit, really. They've got no alternative vision for this country, and this impotent motion by the member for Flynn is supposed to distract people from the train wreck of his political party.

The member for Farrer isn't the only person the member for Flynn is criticising with this half-baked motion. He's also attacking the Leader of the National Party, the member for Maranoa, who not only supported the project but talked it up publicly. The member for Maranoa said that he was 'proud to be investing up to $5 million in the carbon transport and storage company at Millmerran'. The member for Kennedy knows that Millmerran is in the member for Maranoa's own electorate; he knew what he was saying. Then, once the Nationals leader realised it was going south, he changed his tune and immediately threw the deputy opposition leader under the political bus. He said:

It was a desktop review done by the environment minister at the time … and she didn't get it right.

He added:

It wasn't on her radar to the extent that it should've been.

I know the Olympics are over, though the Paralympics are about to start, but Simone Biles would be jealous of that backflip from the member for Maranoa—no accountability and no shame. The Leader of the Nationals talks a lot about character in this place, but he doesn't have the character to face his constituents and say: 'I'm sorry. I got it wrong.' Instead, he ducks for cover and throws the deputy opposition leader under the political bus. This is indicative of the even bigger backflip that the entire National Party is doing on the environment.

I know the member for Flynn is proud to announce to the world that he's a climate change denier. He has openly suggested that environmental progress furthers the 'socialist agenda'. I am glad that at least this issue has brought out the environmentalist within him. I look forward to seeing him vote with the government on further environmental and climate reforms in the future. He can start by calling up his friends in the Senate and demanding they vote for our Nature Positive (Environment Protection Australia) Bill 2024. It's time for them to support these measures and say yes to the benefits of the strong and independent Environment Protection Australia. It's time to agree with tougher penalties for those who break environmental laws. It's time to recognise that better environmental data will inform future planning and decision-making, and it's time to give the green light to more programs, projects, policies and actions to create a nature-positive Australia, instead of moving ridiculous motions like this. This motion is nothing but a cheap political attempt to cover the fact that the Nationals stepped in a Liberal bear trap and should never be taken seriously again.

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