Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

There is a topic I raised in my speech on the second reading. I raised the dire situation of the last urea fertiliser plant closing in Australia this year. I note that, in reference to this bill, the minister for agriculture has mentioned a couple of times that somehow this could be a solution for this issue. The minister might be aware that the Senex Atlas project includes a proposal to build a urea plant at Dalby, in western Queensland, giving us access to that incredibly strategic sovereign capability. However, that project also involves the development of gas fields in western Queensland, because to make urea you need to have a feedstock of gas. They plan to extract 48 terajoules of gas a day. Minister, given the government's support for a Greens amendment that would prohibit investments that 'directly finance the extraction of coal or natural gas', would a urea fertiliser plant proposal that is combined with the development of gasfields associated with it qualify for funding under the National Reconstruction Fund following the government's agreement to these Greens amendments?