Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, you said this is about environmental purposes. Basically the bill allows the government to create a regulatory system to place waste into the sea for scientific research purposes—for example, research into ocean fertilisation which aims to remove carbon dioxide from the ocean. Of our carbon dioxide, only three per cent is created by humans; 97 per cent of carbon dioxide comes from the oceans, from the soils and from natural resources. I just don't understand why you're going to take carbon dioxide—it's a natural gas which is 0.004 per cent of all the natural gases in the world, and you're actually terrified and taking it out, and you're going to have to pump it into the seabed. I'm sorry, but I don't understand what your regulatory system is here. You're saying that it's going to help our environment. Usually, when the oceans will release carbon dioxide and take it in depends on the heating and cooling of our oceans. So how is this going to actually help?