Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The ugliest garbage dump and cesspool will be uncovered if this bill proceeds. There will be a lot of people of the mainstream parties who will be fighting tooth and nail to avoid this from happening. To give you a brief glimpse at the ugliness which we wish to uncover, a person working in the Public Service joined the LNP and, according to media reports, some 10 or 12 years later is worth $23 million. He was the conduit for the coal seam gas money that was being paid improperly. I asked a person who was involved in the battle against coal seam gas and she answered: 'No. He was one of three.' I will just repeat that and let that sink in: a person who was working in the public service then moves to a job on around $100,000 a year and within 10 or 12 years is worth $23 million, according to a national newspaper. And when the person who knew a lot about this was asked if he was the conduit for the coal-seam gas money, she replied, 'No, he was one of three.' So how much money did change hands, and where did that money go? On an entirely different scale, the government compliance officers and the coal-seam gas companies seem to have a backwards and forwards track. One minute you're working for the government, forcing safe practice and looking after the interests of the people of Queensland and the next minute you are working for a coal-seam gas company. Or, vice versa, you're working for a coal-seam gas company and two minutes later you are working in compliance roles and oversighting roles.

Let me be specific: I have been informed—and I want to emphasise that I hope I'm not condemning the man without his right to reply—that Mr Ian Heiner was working in a senior role in the government in an oversighting and powerful role with respect to coal-seam gas companies and the next minute he is working for the coal-seam gas companies. And let me go the other way and refer to Ms Carolyn Collins, who was working for coal-seam gas companies and the next minute is on a commission oversighting the industry. And the position is paid for by the government. It is the height of impropriety, where we would look and expect arm's length relationships, we've got just the opposite. We have a national daily newspaper pointing out the wealth of just one person.

The root cause of this was legislation which existed in Queensland for 100 years that enabled a land-holder to lock the gate. It wasn't an absolute right, but it was a very powerful right, and if the mining company contested that right they went to a magistrates court. Magistrates were based in those days in country communities and they also acted as mining warden as well. These people belonged in local communities, they were part of the local community and, to some degree, be it good or bad, they were answerable to the local community. When you as a local landholder stood up against a big, foreign corporation, a coal-seam gas company, you were probably at a little bit of an advantage.

All I can say is that in 18 years in the parliament and 19 years in the state parliament, before this act was changed, I have never seen a single dispute that had to come to me or to anyone else. The lock-the-gate legislation was working perfectly well, but under the Ahern administration, after they stabbed Bjelke-Petersen in the back, then it was, 'Whatever the big mining companies want and whatever the big coal-seam gas companies want.' There was a free-fire zone to shoot us to pieces. Being a person who owned 250,000 acres of cattle land, I probably have a bit of a prejudice running for the cattlemen. I was an active member of the Cattlemen's Union and we got over 1,000 people at a big rally in Rockhampton to fight off the lock-the-gate legislation. As luck would have it, we got rid of Mr Ahern, but only a few months before an election was called. And the result was I couldn't change the legislation, but I announced officially that we would go back to the lock-the-gate legislation, as soon as the elections were over, assuming we would be re-elected. For that the mining companies had a unanimous vote of no confidence in me as the mines minister. I thank them for that because I think I got a lot of votes out of it. It proved to the people we weren't in the pockets of the big foreign corporations; we were on the side of Australians and Queenslanders.

The lock-the-gate battle continues unabated. Great Australians, such as Alan Jones, are walking in the hot sun in demonstrations. I also, shockingly, have been walking with the Greens. My only escape is that they are more embarrassed to be walking with me. People on very different sides of the political spectrum are coming together because they know that this is wrong. The greatest principle that enabled the Anglo-Saxons to get ahead of the rest of the world was that they had private property. It was locked into the wonderful document drawn up by Bishop Langton called the Magna Carta. It says that the king has no right to set upon a free man's property without due process or law. That is my land, not the government's land and not the Crown's land. The lock-the-gate battle is continuing.

Another aspect that needs to be investigated is the $23 billion a year of wealth that is taken away from Australia and put into the hands of foreign corporations. Is that a good thing for Australia? Who are the people that gave away all of the gas resources of this nation? Now we have both Mount Isa Mines and the biggest fertiliser plant in Australia at Mount Isa having to buy gas at $16 a gigajoule when their competitors are buying it at $6 a gigajoule. You don't have to be Albert Einstein to figure out that, if fertiliser is diammonium phosphate, there is more ammonia in there than phosphate. For those who don't know, ammonia is gas. So we are having to buy two-thirds of our fertiliser at $16 when our competitors are buying their two-thirds at $6. Obviously we can't compete, so let's close down yet another industry in Australia!

Who allowed every single skerrick of our gas to be foreign owned? The people in this place did. The people in this place approved the sale of all of that gas. People now are buying or have stated their intention to buy gas out of Tokyo and China to export back to Australia. That gas comes from Australia. There is a big pipeline that runs through Mount Isa to Gladstone and overseas. Instead of tapping into that pipeline, it's cheaper to go overseas and buy our gas and bring it back into Australia. Seriously, could the people in this place give a damn about the interests of Australia?

If one single person ended up with $23 million in his pocket, how much did the major parties end up with in their pockets? How much? My worthy colleague here from Melbourne would be very interested in finding the answer to that question. The worst aspect is that this country has lost $23 billion a year.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next day of sitting.