Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Senator Conroy. Bimblebox Nature Refuge is an 8,000-hectare privately owned wilderness—the last remaining large wilderness in the Galilee Basin. It has exceptional environmental values and is home to many threatened species. In August 2000 the federal government used over $300,000 of taxpayers' money to partly fund its purchase and inclusion in the Nation Reserve System. That inclusion gives it no protection from mining and under Labor state government laws it can also be mined. Clive Palmer wants to mine it. His aptly named 'China First' mine—