Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Milne would be aware that the drafters of legislation regularly use language like ‘significant’. It is term that is well understood by the general populous, and that is why drafters use it. People understand that ‘significant’ means significant. It is not quantifiable. We do not want to try and define what a significant event might be when, in many respects, we do not have a crystal ball to look into the future. But can I assure Senator Milne and the Greens that this is an often used term in legislation. It is well understood by drafters, it is well understood by those of us who sit in this place and I think it is reasonably well understood by the community that a significant event is a significant event. That language is often used.

I want to respond very briefly to Senator Milne’s comments about landfill. It is really quite wrong to characterise geosequestration as landfill. It is not helpful for the community who are trying to grapple with what is a very difficult concept. When I first heard of geosequestration some years ago I had a notion that there were all these holes under the earth that must be filled with something, and that we were going to take that something out and there would be a big cavern. It is not a big cavern. We need to be very careful with our language when we are talking about new areas of science, research and technology, and we need to use language that best describes to our constituents what we are talking about, because it is not a big cavern under the ocean. As I am sure Senator Milne knows, it is porous material that we know is contained, but through which liquefied greenhouse gases can be put. We all know that it is new technology but, for those of us who are civic leaders, it is important to use language that provides information to our constituents rather than to perpetuate a myth in the community—a myth that I shared, but that was some years ago, thank goodness—that we are pumping into these big caverns under the sea. So, it is not a hole in the ground and it is not appropriate to characterise geosequestration as landfill.

This is new technology and it is really quite important technology. If the expectations that we rightly hold are achieved, we can do some fantastic things for the planet. I understand Senator Milne’s frustration that all this greenhouse gas has been produced and people have been warning about it for years. Our government is trying to deal with it now. We have a range of other measures along with geosequestration, like increasing the renewable energy target and investing into alternative energies. We are honestly trying to deal with the reality in a practical way that will protect our economy, that will protect our environment, that will ensure that icons that I hold incredibly close to my heart—the Great Barrier Reef—have the best chance of being protected. That is why I support this legislation: to ensure that we facilitate as best we can the reduction of carbon in our atmosphere with the net benefit to the world as a whole.