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

As I have said earlier, this is not the place, in my view, to be debating in detail the provisions of the EPBC Act, given that I am not the minister responsible for that, and this legislation deals with issues that are separate in detail from those that are dealt with by that particular piece of legislation. However, of course, under the arrangements that the government are putting in place—or have put in place in some circumstances with some states—under the bilateral agreements process, we are confident that the provisions of the EPBC Act and the assessment that would otherwise be required by it will be taken out faithfully by state governments. That is our view.

The Greens may have a different view, but it is the government's policy to establish those processes, particularly to ensure that we can get jobs created in this country and get things going. A number of high-profile cases have been held up for far too long through the assessment processes in this country with no added benefit in terms of environmental protection.

Those are this government's policies. We support job creation. We support investment in this country while maintaining our strong environmental laws and protections. There is an appropriate place and time to debate those provisions, which I am sure that the Greens and you, Senator Waters—through you, Chair—will take full advantage of. Again, we see no need to duplicate that debate or to change those generic environmental provisions of the EPBC Act through this particular process.