Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

I do not want to delay the debate much longer, Minister, but we did not have the benefit of your presence in the debate yesterday. We had a series of other very worthy senators, but it would be useful, I think, for you to put on the record something which was raised in the debate yesterday—and that is, the question of why it is that greenhouse was not in that first set of priorities for Infrastructure Australia. Can you assure the Senate that when decisions are being made about setting priorities for funding—whether it is road or rail, port facilities, housing, the building of universities and schools or any other major infrastructure—greenhouse emissions specifically, not just the implications of global warming on, for instance, coasts, sea levels and the like, will be front and centre of the work which Infrastructure Australia does in making its recommendations and giving its advice to government? Can we have your absolute, clear, unequivocal assurances that this is the case?