Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, you have not answered the question. I will put another question. But, firstly, it was not an eloquent answer in itself to my question. It was not an answer in itself at all. My question was very specific. It was in relation to the member for Fairfax and his nickel refinery in Queensland, which is one of Australia's biggest polluters, and whether that would be eligible for a grant under the ERF. What you termed as an answer was to say that me asking that question was 'fundamentally undemocratic'. They were your words. It was for reasons of democracy that I asked the question because the member for Fairfax has just done a deal with the government for $2.55 billion of taxpayer's money, which he may—and I am giving you the option to rule out whether this is correct or not—be eligible to apply for part of in a grant for his own business establishment, the Queensland Nickel refinery, which is one of Australia's biggest polluters. That is the question that I was asking. The Prime Minister refused to rule it out and you have now refused to rule it out.

The fact that you are refusing to rule it out raises suspicion as to whether he is eligible to apply. You have done the dirty deal with him. As someone who wanted to bring an amendment to another bill in this place for an emissions trading scheme, he has sold out. To agree with the member for Fairfax's request, that has now been reduced to a review of an emissions trading scheme, which the minister for the environment himself has called 'just a gesture', in order to get your $2.55 billion deal through the parliament. So I think it was incredibly democratic—not fundamentally undemocratic—for the people of Australia to know whether or not the $2.55 billion deal that you have done with the member for Fairfax is democratic and whether or not there is something within that deal that benefits the member for Fairfax in relation to his Queensland Nickel refinery. So would you like to answer the question, minister?