Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Hansard source

What an absolute farce this is. I rise to speak against the Nature Repair Market Bill 2023 and whatever dodgy deal has been done where Labor has capitulated to the Greens political party yet again. We are seeing the standard of Labor's parliamentary process, where they promise the world, then rush a backroom deal and try to ram through legislation without consultation. What was the promise to the Greens political party from this Labor government, a government that obviously struggles to keep its word?

On 15 May 2023, the Minister for the Environment and Water, Ms Plibersek, told RN Breakfast:

I'm proposing to release those exposure drafts in the second half of this year so people will be able to comment on the proposed changes that we're making.

That was the environment minister. What a joke that is, because here we are with absolutely no consultation—in fact, the ink is not dry on the amendments that we're looking at now. Where were these exposure drafts? Where can people comment on these changes? Well, they miss out on that, thanks to yet another dodgy deal through the back room. I remember the days when the Greens believed in transparency and good government. What a happy memory that is. Has anyone had the chance to review this legislation? Or has Labor only bothered to consult the people who are the most out of touch with Australians—the Australian Greens political party?

This pattern should not be a revelation, though, to the Australian public as it's become apparent that the Albanese Labor government are desperate to protect their own political careers by trying to buy Greens votes in Melbourne and Sydney. Surely it is only a coincidence that there was a swing to the Greens at the last election in Minister Plibersek's electorate. What about the rest of her Labor colleagues? Have any Labor members from Western Australia or the Northern Territory faced up to their constituents and had to tell them that Minister Plibersek is trying to save her own political career by pandering to Greens votes in inner-city Sydney or that Labor are abandoning the gas and manufacturing industries to save their own necks? What about Labor Premier Roger Cook, who recently had to come out and try and defend the gas industry, saying, 'No-one will thank us if we don't have enough gas.' Is Premier Cook aware of the dirty, dodgy backroom deals being done between his federal colleagues and the Greens political party that put his state budget in the firing line? Any claim from the Labor government that they support the gas industry is undermined by their continual capitulation to the Greens political party. We have had the safeguards amendment, funding of the EDO and the anti-gas Middle Arm inquiry, not to mention housing deals and the Murray-Darling Basin. And now we have this rushed backroom deal to target gas supply. This Greens political party is pulling the strings of the Labor Party, as if they were already in government together.

But, even without this dodgy, rushed deal, this legislation is another example of Labor putting their inner-city Greens fantasies ahead of the realities of life for hardworking Australians, especially land managers like farmers and graziers. Labor has consistently attacked and undermined farmers, removing property rights, legislating away farmers' water rights, removing markets, stalling necessary road infrastructure and removing the ability to fish. Now this government sponsored carbon frenzy means projects are being waved through by local councils with just the bare minimum of regulatory scrutiny.

This is an absolute travesty, to have these amendments come into this place with no consultation—no consultation with industry, no consultation with members and elected representatives of those communities, and even no consultation with environment groups. I have flicked through the amendments, because I only recently got them, and there are questions that we will drive a truck through tonight. This is not the way we make legislation—with these kinds of rushed, poorly drafted amendments to get a deal done so that the Greens will support the Nature Market Repair Bill, which they've already said they didn't agree with; they said it was a dog of legislation. Are Australians going to live with the dog and the fleas that sit on its back, thanks to these terrible amendments to the EPBC Act?