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

by leave—The coalition will support this motion. The matters that Senator Brown has raised are very relevant. I also have a concern that the Queensland Premier is lobbying the Prime Minister in relation to this dam. That has been publicly reported and, in fact, has been reported in comments by the Queensland Premier herself. I understand, as I am sure Senator Brown does, what the EPBC Act says. One wonders why the Queensland Premier is petitioning and lobbying the Prime Minister if she does not expect the Prime Minister to have some influence on whether or not approval will be given by the federal minister to this ridiculous, unworkable, stupid and environmentally damaging proposal by the Queensland government. For those reasons, the coalition will be supporting this motion.