Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

With all due respect, Senator Dodson, you know as well as I do that the timing on this is directly related to Adani. There are significant points of conflict around the Adani decision-making process. You heard the same arguments I did through the Senate inquiry, where there was very strong dispute about their decision-making process, specifically related to the Adani mine. I would have loved for this discussion not to be about Adani. In fact, the Native Title Council has raised the issue with the government. It is clearly on the record that it had been asking for some time before the McGlade case came up for this issue to be addressed.

What has pushed the government's buttons is Adani—let's make that clear. I am really regretful that the debate on this has had to centre on Adani, which is clearly the government's agenda. If we take this off, we take some of the heat out of that discussion. By not supporting this amendment gives the government one more way to support the Adani coalmine. Senator Macdonald was in here not long ago saying, 'Oh, they are talking about 600 more jobs in Townsville.' I for one know that we need more jobs—you cannot hold the portfolios I hold without knowing that—but killing the reef is going to kill a lot more jobs, and that is what this project will do. We can address that issue here and not facilitate the development and not go against the wishes of the majority. It is not just a minority of people in this case of Adani—there are really strong claims that this process was manipulated and that it does not have majority support. Take that off the table, and that is what this amendment does, and you take that argument somewhere else. I commend the amendments to the chamber.

The CHAIR: The question is that the amendments as moved by Senator Siewert on sheet 8161 be agreed to.

The CHAIR: The question now is that item 10 of schedule 1 stand as printed.

Question agreed to.