Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport) Share this | Hansard source

It is a very clever cartoon. I hope you get a copy for your office, Minister. It will be your parting gift from this portfolio, I suspect. The serious part about this is why applicants would want to bring a matter before this minister when he has demonstrated that he is not capable of properly applying the law. He will apply what he considers is to the political advantage of his party. Why would applicants who want to build this country’s infrastructure, infrastructure that this country needs, go to this minister when he has demonstrated that he will be so inconsistent and that he will not give a fair hearing to applicants, as demonstrated by the different treatment that he has given to wind farms in this portfolio? And it is not just him; it is his whole government. He has departed from a consistent approach, the consistent approach that was recommended by his own department—the advice that he has said that he had rejected. This minister shows developers that they cannot rely on him. This is the minister who now cannot have any credibility in making any decision on this matter. He cannot have any credibility on this matter when it comes back before him and he cannot have any credibility on any other project. (Time expired)