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

Thank you. I certainly would have preferred to see a much stronger bill than the one before us. If the view of government and the intention of government were in fact different then perhaps they ought to have reflected that in the bill before us. But I would like to move now to a matter that I just alluded to, and that is the ability of the federal minister to even act on the advice given by this new committee. I refer specifically to proposed section 131AB, which is item 2 of schedule 1 of the bill. It is clear that the minister has to seek advice if he thinks there is going to be an impact on water resources, as long as there is also going to be an impact on a matter protected by part 3, which is a matter of national environmental significance. Does the parliamentary secretary understand that my interpretation is correct in that the federal environment minister still cannot act on this advice unless there is going to be an impact on an existing matter of national environmental significance, of which water is not one?