David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hanson-Young for this motion to look into a project that absolutely deserves the scrutiny of the Senate. I would like to return to what we should be debating here today, whether or not to refer this to a committee. I find myself sitting here listening to what can only be described as ALP talking points and gas industry talking points coming from the major parties. We heard from Senator McDonald about hysterical activism, when we're talking about 2,300 medical professionals putting their names, their reputations in an open letter to the Prime Minister, expressing concern about the health impacts from Middle Arm on people in Darwin, on young people in Darwin, on future generations born in Darwin. Today in the building there were peak bodies representing 100,000 doctors across the country, expressing these concerns about the direct impacts that Middle Arm will have on the health of not only people in the Darwin area and people who live in the Beetaloo basin but on all Australians, as well as the contribution that Beetaloo, Barossa and other projects will have on the climate.

Senator Nampijinpa Price talked about unfamiliar territory in agreeing with NT Labor. This is very familiar territory for those on the crossbench—to have the major parties on a unity ticket when it comes to fossil fuel expansion in Australia. We've heard so many good things from the new government about the need to act, to take this seriously, to build an economy for the future. Millions of Australians have been so hopeful that that would happen, and yet, at the same time we hear about the transition, we also hear about the expansion of the fossil fuel industry. We're seeing $1.5 billion of taxpayer money going into the Middle Arm petrochemical hub and gas export facility.

These sorts of decisions deserve the scrutiny of the Senate, given the concerns that have been raised by paediatricians, by experts here in Australia and around the world, who have spent decades looking at what it means for communities to live next to petrochemical hubs. We've heard the argument from the government about how it's not just gas; it's all these other things. But, by having gas being processed there, you're exposing people in Darwin to the effects of that, and that is on your hands. We know this. We have the evidence. Yet you continue with this decision. This is a very hard thing for the government, I'm sure. There are many smart, educated people who can read the briefing from all these doctors who've been here today, over 100 doctors from the NT, wanting to come here and meet with the Prime Minister to raise their concerns. They weren't able to meet with the NT Chief Minister. She wouldn't meet with them. So they've come to Canberra to seek out support from federal politicians on this project that is getting federal money. They couldn't get a meeting with the PM today. There are a bunch of parents from Darwin who are concerned what this means for their children.

We know that there will be an increase in leukaemia in young people, in cardiovascular disease and in asthma. Despite all this evidence, the major parties are saying that we shouldn't even look into this further—that this doesn't even warrant our scrutiny. It's so absurd. It is absurd that you would not want this to have a little bit more oversight, to dig a little bit deeper, to be able to take these concerns onboard. When we talk about these things, we see the government senators looking down, not wanting to look up, because you know what you are doing.

I plead with you. I've spent the last couple of months talking to climate scientists and reading about the known and likely impacts for young people born today. My four-year-old niece, Georgia—what will her life look like for the next 70 years, to the year 2100? It is terrifying. It is no surprise that young people will continue to move away from the major parties if you continue down this road of destroying their future. We know what we're doing now. We have more than enough evidence. Scientists are imploring you; they are urging you. Communities are urging you, and yet we can't even look into this. We can't even have a Senate inquiry, despite the government agreeing to that a while ago. Now we've seen a change of heart. These sorts of decisions matter. They deserve more scrutiny.

The thing that we will be judged on by young people, by future generations, is what we do now with the evidence that we have, the knowledge that we have, to turn things around.

At the moment, we're failing them. We are failing young people and future generations. We are making decisions that are good for the short term—maybe. We're making decisions that are good for gas executives and gas corporations. I urge the government to reconsider this and to vote for a motion to set up a Senate inquiry into a project that is very controversial in the Northern Territory and across the country because, while this will have immediate impacts on Darwin, it affects all of us. We share a climate, and this project unlocks the Beetaloo and Barossa—some of the dirtiest gas in the country. It's gas so dirty that, from what I've been told, they won't be able to pipe it with the CO2 in it. They'll have to vent the CO2 out at sea. Maybe in the future, with carbon capture and storage, we can take the CO2 out and pump it back underground, but these are the sorts of projects that the government is enabling with this $1.5 billion.

Again, I go back to the core of this, which is whether or not the Senate deserves to be able to look at Middle Arm. I urge the government to reconsider. This will not age well. We are already seeing projections that the Northern Territory will become uninhabitable if we don't stop new fossil fuel projects. It won't be hard to live in; it will be uninhabitable. Your decisions around Middle Arm—your decisions to approve new coalmines and to kowtow to the gas industry—will make that a reality. On behalf of the thousands of people who have been in touch with my office and said, yes, politicians have a duty of care to young people and future generations, I implore the government to allow the Senate to look into Middle Arm.