George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Let me say, Senator Waters, that I am not the first Attorney-General who wants law reform. When we see a provision in an act of this parliament that is so poorly drawn and so widely drawn that it actually encourages opportunists and vigilante litigation, then we ought to get rid of it. That is not just my view, Senator Waters. This is what Dr Lynham, the Queensland Labor Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, said: 'We're extremely disappointed that there've been delays to Adani in the Galilee Basin. You have to realise that this is a federal issue, and we've asked the federal government to sort it out as soon as possible.'

Well, we are sorting it out, Senator Waters, and we are expecting Dr Lynham's political colleagues from the Australian Labor Party here in the Senate to support us in doing the very thing that the Queensland mines minister has asked the federal government to do: to sort it out so that this provision does not constitute a permanent blockage for the capacity to develop the great coalmines of Queensland.