Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Senate has debated this issue a number of times now. It's clear that there is a strong will within this place for a proper review into this piece of legislation. As Senator Gallagher has eloquently described, we are still waiting for the final report into the Samuel review, and I think these things need to be considered together. Of course, there needs to be a legitimate time frame for this. We are now quickly heading towards the end of the year. We only have two sitting weeks left in this place. We need to make sure, if we're going to inquire into this piece of legislation, that the committee can report at the earliest possible opportunity, that being February. Suggesting that an inquiry into such important legislation could be done within a shorter time frame than that would make it simply all looks and no substance. This shouldn't be just a tick-and-flick exercise. This is an important issue into drastic changes to Australia's environment laws. So the Greens will support this amendment put forward by the opposition, and we urge the government and the crossbench to be realistic about the time frame here. Anything shorter than this will be a joke.