Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I don't think I have ever heard more weasel words in a one-minute statement than I heard then. I know that Mr Shorten has indicated that he's become sceptical in recent days about the Adani mine. It's interesting. He wasn't sceptical when the consensus from the international scientific community was that if we went ahead with Adani we would lose the Great Barrier Reef. He wasn't sceptical then. He wasn't sceptical when we put to both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party the record of corruption and of environmental damage done by Adani. He was not sceptical then. He was not sceptical when it became clear that there was an immense threat to the Great Artesian Basin. His scepticism seems to have been triggered by something called the Batman by-election. That's where his scepticism comes from. It comes from knowing that within a matter of weeks the people of Batman are going to make a decision about whether they want to see the Great Barrier Reef saved and Adani stopped. It's cynical, and he should stop it now. (Time expired)