Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Water. Will the minister make a decision on the future of the North West Shelf gas expansion before the upcoming election?

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to 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—

Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The point of order is on relevance. There's no way that the minister commenting on the opposition can be relevant to the question, which was, 'Will the minister make a decision?' Secondly, on the substance of her answer, we're not asking for an explanation on the substance of her decision. It's the timing of the decision, and the timing of the decision cannot be relevant to what the minister has rebutted. Certainly, talking about the opposition can't be relevant.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister was not asked about the Leader of the Opposition or alternative approaches. She has been dealing with, and giving her explanations around, the decision. That's definitely been in her answer. If she's going to talk about any other policy—she won't be able to. She's got to talk about what she was asked about when the member for Durack asked her about the North West Shelf gas extension. Whatever she says will have to be relevant to the question because it was a very tight question, so she can't go into alternative policies unless it's specifically about what she was asked.

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

I was asked specifically about a decision on the North West Shelf Project, and I was asked about the timing of a decision on the North West Shelf Project. I have explained that it's important to not prejudge these decisions. If we prejudge these decisions, they inevitably end up in apprehended bias questions before courts. The Minister for Resources has had to clean up two apprehended bias court cases generated by the previous government prejudging resources projects.

Opposition members interjecting

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

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

I'm explaining exactly how I'm being relevant.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will help out by not interjecting as much.

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

What I would say is that it would be very dangerous for me, as a minister, or for anyone else to make a prejudgement about any project. If someone did that, the most likely outcome would be that that project ended up in court.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's about timing. Is it before or after the election? It's a basic question.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister is answering the question and is being directly relevant by explaining why she's not going to give the answer you want. She's giving specific reasons why that is. She couldn't be more directly relevant. She may not give you the answer on the timing, but she's explaining why that's the case. I can't make her answer the way you would like her to, but, in anyone's opinion, she's being directly relevant.

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

I'll finish by saying it would be foolish in the extreme to prejudge a project like this because it just ends up in court, like your last ones did.