Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Faulkner, apparently filling in for the never-present Senator Wong, representing the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. Does the minister recall that at question time on 20 March this year I asked the environment minister if the federal government was going to prosecute the Queensland government for breach of EPBC Act conditions on the Paradise Dam on the Burdekin River essential to save the critically endangered lungfish? Does the minister recall that the then minister refused to answer the question? Is the minister aware that, because the federal government has abrogated its duty to take court action, an NGO has been forced to take civil action in the Federal Court to enforce Commonwealth government environmental conditions? When will the federal government discharge its duty and uphold the conditions imposed on the Queensland government to save these endangered species—or is the current federal Labor government not prepared to take on its Queensland Labor government mates?