Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I utterly reject the suggestions in that diatribe from Senator Macdonald. I will continue to provide information, though, on the Commonwealth and Queensland government’s efforts in this area. As I was saying, no containers were observed. However, an oil slick three nautical miles long and 500 metres wide was sighted approximately four nautical miles north of Moreton Island. The weather conditions on Wednesday consisted of gale force winds and heavy seas as a result of a tropical cyclone. In such conditions, it was not feasible to use oil spill dispersants or oil recovery equipment to prevent the oil from coming onshore.