Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I make the point again that if this was so important to the Greens why didn't they insert it into the Clean Energy Finance Corporation Bill when they had the opportunity? These provisions do not exist in that legislation, and therefore projects funded by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation can potentially be in exactly the same boat as the senator is suggesting. I do not quite understand their double standard in this case, apart from the fact that one bill deals with clean energy and this bill deals with northern Australia infrastructure. It seems the Greens want to treat infrastructure in northern Australia differently to clean energy. They have their own priorities that they can explain to the people of northern Australia. We do not see why there would need to be inconsistent provisions across these particular facilities, which are very similar.

As I said earlier, the various secretariats for assisting in this area have already spoken to each other and are supporting each other. They will work together in collaboration and there is no need to introduce inconsistencies between them. We as a government remain confident in the strength of our environmental laws. Of course, any finances provided will need approval under those environmental laws.