Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Durack for her question. The department is assessing the project in accordance with Australia's national environment laws, which, as we all know, were put in place by John Howard's Liberal government. Every single time I've been asked about a decision in this place, I have consistently said that I don't comment on decisions before me. The reason that I don't comment on decisions before me is, as the Minister for Resources can tell you, it leads to court cases. She's been engaged in two court cases, cleaning up the mess of the previous government where the previous government and the previous Prime Minister, when he swore himself in as a secret minister, prejudged a decision and it ended up in court. But I can say very clearly that our broad approach will always be to follow the law and to follow the science. As I said about the Leader of the Opposition's reckless announcement last week, all he did when he made his reckless announcement last week on the North West Shelf, which is exactly what I've been asked about—

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