Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

I think I have given that assurance, and the decisions I make will of course be very public. I am absolutely certain because of the very strong interest from people like Warren Truss, Alex Somlyay and the local federal members—rarely a day goes by where they and colleagues are not raising these issues—that there is substantial concern about this proposal. On the face of it, it seems that the Queensland government should work a lot harder to find alternative sources of water, but this is their proposal. We will have to make judgements on the environmental impacts, on the nationally environmentally significant aspects of it, and I remind the Senate that our jurisdiction only extends to those nationally environmentally significant aspects. As I have said, they relate to the Australian lungfish, the Mary River cod and the Mary River tortoise. The lungfish in particular I know is an incredibly unique species and a very important species— (Time expired)