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

Senator Cormann has just let the cat out of the bag. This is about economic opportunity and economic development, not environmental protection. Senator Cormann, the name of the bill is 'environmental protection'. That's what it's supposed to be doing—not economic development. You've got lots of other bills to do that. The government's agenda is really clear here, folks. They've just introduced amendments to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to—guess what?—designate gas a low-emission fuel. What is that? There's no way it is. It's a fossil fuel. Your gas-led recovery is so plain. You're prepared to trash the environment for the future to make sure that climate change runs rampant across this globe. That's what this is about.

We want to have a good look at what this bill does. This is simply to facilitate your agenda to trash the environment. Maybe when you're amending it you should amend it to the 'trash the environment bill', because that's what you are doing with this. You are trashing our environment laws. You have already overseen so much destruction: further loss of species, further threatening of species. You'll do anything you can to facilitate development no matter the cost to our precious environment, to our precious species. Your agenda is so patently clear, particularly on the same day as you're introducing this bill that makes a mockery of addressing climate change and emissions in this country.