Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Van for the question. As a matter of general principle, what I would say to him is that any decision under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is a decision that is made through the application of that law to the particular facts of the case. That is the way in which ministers of the Crown exercising their statutory obligations under that legislation have done so since its introduction, and that is the way Ms Plibersek would have approached this case. The fact is that every project—housing, mining, energy and so forth—is treated in this way—that is, the law is applied to the particular facts and the decision is made by the minister in relation to the application of the law to those facts.

I am advised the project was deemed unacceptable because the Port of Hastings failed to show it was consistent with federal environmental law, particularly with regard to the impact on internationally protected wetlands. I'm also advised that detailed reasons for the decision are publicly available online. I'm advised that the Port of Hastings is, of course, able to make another and revised application under the national environmental law and that senior officials from both the Victorian government and the federal government have already met to discuss possible next steps. The government will continue to consider each project on a case-by-case basis, consistent with the law, in the way I have outlined.