Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

We are in a climate crisis, and the government is pouring fuel on the fire. We need to ensure that this budget doesn't fund opening up the climate bomb in the Beetaloo. That is why we will be taking the unusual but not unprecedented move to seek to move an amendment to the Supply Bill (No. 1) 2022-2023 today. We are not seeking to block supply. We will not vote against the bill. This amendment will not affect the passage of the bill. What this amendment will do is not reduce the money being provided by the government, but it will prevent the government from spending our money turbocharging massive gas projects in the Northern Territory, from the Beetaloo to Middle Arm to Barossa, just as the climate crisis has started arriving—and the levee has been breached in Lismore.

We are at a time in history when every moment matters and what we do matters. Unfortunately, we are running out of time. We must keep coal, oil and gas in the ground. But what we continue to see in this place is the government's infatuation with gas projects. This continues. It means approvals are being fast-tracked left, right and centre in this country without consent, without proper processes and approvals that truly assess the damage being caused to the environment and, again, without true free, prior and informed consent.

Last week I had the privilege of chairing the environment committee hearing on the Beetaloo. I heard from traditional owners, pastoralists and other people living in the Northern Territory about how they don't want fracking on their traditional lands, how they don't want this to affect the fragile and precious ecosystem in the Northern Territory. There's no doubt the drilling will have consequences on the flora, the fauna and also the cattle. This is what I heard from those farmers. It's further compounding the impact on endangered species and savanna ecosystems. Fracking will pose a serious risk to our precious groundwater. Groundwater is especially critical in the Northern Territory because it's 90 per cent of the water that is for human purposes, including drinking water, and it's drawn from the aquifers.

But here we continue to ignore the independent review of fracking in the Northern Territory, the Pepper inquiry, the climate science that has noted the environmental, social and economic risks from fracking in the Territory. It's clear from the evidence that I heard that our legislative frameworks allow big corporations to get away with the destruction of country, and the regulatory policy framework that is still on the drawing board for the Northern Territory government means there are no checks and balances.

These risks are unacceptable. Despite all this, despite the significant risk, despite the wishes of the people living in the Northern Territory, this government gives the green light in this budget to fast-track those approvals and continues the destruction of country that threatens the health, the wellbeing and the livelihoods of the people in the Northern Territory—granting public money to party donors for this climate-wrecking project that no-one wants and that is unethical, wasteful and a danger to our children's future.