David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Chair. To be fair, Senator Nash, I was dealing directly with a point that you made in your remarks, which is from your perspective how unhappy you were that these matters are being dealt with in regulation. My answer was germane to that point.

Going to your substantive point, it is the government's view that there are a range of technical issues that are dealt with here. The Senate committee recommended that we be careful to define the list and to avoid excluding low-risk projects. We are taking an approach in the legislative framework we are seeking to establish that these matters—and they are, as you have said, important matters—be dealt with on the basis of evidence, on the basis of science, on the basis of community concerns and not on the basis of politics and the politics of the moment. I think that is a particularly important point because the amendment you are at least countenancing the idea of supporting would, in giving the minister a direct discretion, in our view change the framework unhappily.