Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Minister. Nice try. It's a pretty simple question. It's obvious to everyone that this is the legislation Mr Bowen was talking about on 26 July. It was obvious to all the groups who made submissions to the Senate inquiry process, including the Australian Marine Conservation Society, the Australian institute, Surfrider Foundation and the Northern Territory Environment Centre. There were a number of people I know you respect and have worked with over many years who clearly have tied this to the Barossa project. I'm disappointed you couldn't answer that simple question. Perhaps your advisers or I could just give you a copy of this article so you can at least look at it.

That isn't where Mr Bowen finished in this article, by the way. On the second page, when dealing with accusations around the Japanese government's concerns, especially in relation to one investor, JERA, the article said of Mr Bowen:

However, he said Labor supported passing special legislation that would allow Santos to send carbon dioxide from Australia to the Bayu-Undan oil and gas field in the Timor Sea.

Mr Bowen is then quoted as saying:

"We have introduced the legislation to enable that to occur …

We think that is fair. If we are requiring companies to meet ambitious emissions reduction targets, and they have a way to do it, we can help them achieve it. That legislation is making its way through parliament."

I'll ask you again: is that legislation what we're dealing with today, Minister?