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

Well, Senator Singh, what we are concerned about is responding to the threats—and you were in the chamber in the last sitting fortnight when I read from the declaration that radical environmental groups had published to declare that they would use legal devices, including the expanded right of challenge under section 487 of the EPBC Act, for the explicit purpose of closing down the Australian coal industry.

Senator Singh, in my state of Queensland the Carmichael mine is one of the biggest projects that has ever been proposed, and the people of Central Queensland in particular are appalled at the thought that the jobs that would be brought to Central Queensland could be lost as a result of opportunistic litigation by people with no recognised legal interest in the matter whatsoever but merely a political point to make to misuse the courts for their purpose. (Time expired)