Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Urban Development) Share this | Hansard source

My question without notice is to Senator Ian Campbell, the Minister for the Environment and Heritage. Can the minister confirm that, as part of the humiliating backdown over the Bald Hills wind farm that was forced on him in the Federal Court last Friday, he agreed that taxpayers would pay Wind Power’s legal costs? Isn’t it the case that an agreement to pay costs at such an early stage is nothing more than an unconditional surrender? Can the minister confirm that he was forced to raise the white flag so quickly because of the weakness of his case and the strong likelihood that he would lose? Couldn’t this whole saga have been avoided if in the first instance the minister had considered the wind farm proposal according to law rather than abusing his powers for political purposes?