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

We'll certainly get to that, Minister. I'll take up that challenge, because my understanding is if we're going to be dumping it in someone else's national territory we have no regulatory oversight over that at all, and I'm very keen to hear how you're going to actually regulate another country's carbon capture and storage project even if Australian pollution is going to it. But we'll get to that in a minute.

I note again, Minister, this the sixth time I've asked you this question that you've refused to answer: is this legislation before us today the special legislation Mr Bowen has alluded to on more than one occasion? This is just one article—I've got others here—where he's made it very clear that the government is going to be passing enabling legislation to facilitate the Barossa Gas Project. Clearly, he said, 'We have introduced the legislation to enable that to occur specifically related to the Barossa project'—the $5.8 billion Barossa project. You've refused to answer that. I don't know why. I think it's pretty obvious: it doesn't look good for your government that you're refusing to answer the most simple question. I think a bit of honesty and transparency goes a long way. It's not a gotcha moment; I think this is pretty black and white.

Let me try a different tack. If you genuinely don't know, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you don't know that this is the legislation Mr Bowen is referring to to facilitate the transport of CO2 across international boundaries into Timor-Leste, into the Bayu-Undan field, a depleted field in the Timor Sea. This was in July, and it's been going through the House and of course it's here now. I can't see any other legislation before us that might be doing that, so an intelligent person would say, 'Yes, this must be it.' Perhaps you could offer what other legislation is the minister referring to there if it's not this?