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

Senator Brown is quite right: it is very early days. The Australian government will be taking a very close interest in the terms of reference and the entire process. We want to ensure that the process is done correctly on the first occasion. We do not want to see a repeat of the Meander dam process where the Commonwealth forced the Tasmanian government to go back through another entire 12-month process. We want to make sure that the community are confident that the bilateral agreement will work properly as to all of the issues that are quite properly the purview of the Australian government under this legislation, which Senator Bartlett has most eloquently described as a very powerful piece of environmental legislation—one that the Greens opposed in the past but that was supported by the Democrats.

This legislation does give the Commonwealth power to ensure that those nationally listed species that Senator Brown has referred to can be afforded very high levels of protection. He has mentioned the lungfish and the Mary River cod. Ramsar listed wetlands are also likely to be affected by the construction of this very large dam proposed by the Queensland government. There are also likely to be impacts right across what I believe are called the Great Sandy Straits—that is from my vague memory of geography in my early days in Queensland—and into the western side of Fraser Island, which is obviously a very important World Heritage area that was listed by the coincidentally named Fraser government.

The process will be thorough. Whether there is an assessment of the part A proposal for the dam not fully filled or whether the assessment will be on the impacts of the dam’s second stage proposal when the dam is full to the brim, is potentially a moot point. The assessment will have to look at the indirect impacts, and it is quite clear to me even at this early stage—and I do not want to seek to pre-empt the process; I want to give some general comments—that it is quite likely that because of the way the law is framed we would have to look at the impacts of the dam when it is full to the brim regardless. So I think those impacts will have to be assessed.

I think the assessment process could possibly take some years. This is a very complex process. I will check, Senator Brown. I have just been advised by my adviser that we would not expect a decision on this until around mid-2008, so it will be a detailed and comprehensive process. I have given undertakings to a range of concerned citizens in that area. Just the proposal for the dam has already had a massive social impact. I have had a constant stream of concerned Queenslanders and their representatives through my doors over recent weeks, including Warren Truss and Senators Ian Macdonald, Brandis, Trood, Santoro and Joyce. To his credit, Senator Bartlett has taken a very close interest in this proposal. He has been in my office at least twice, going through the process and having himself briefed on it. This is a very big proposal by the Queensland government and its impacts on those matters of national environmental significance will be thoroughly and comprehensively examined, and I want to make sure that the community members involved feel that the process is robust and that they have a strong voice in that process.