Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Whish-Wilson. I do recall the commitment that the Prime Minister made and Labor made, prior to the election, on an issue that I know is of great significance in that part of Australia. Since coming to office, the government has been left with no choice but to concede that Mr Morrison's actions on PEP-11 could not be defended in court, so the government is taking a different approach by governing with competency and in the national interest.

I am aware that the New South Wales government will introduce legislation to ban offshore resources development in New South Wales coastal waters and that the bill is intended to ban new offshore resources activity in New South Wales coastal waters. I understand that the New South Wales bill does not ban PEP-11, which is in Commonwealth waters rather than New South Wales coastal waters. So the New South Wales bill, as I say, relates only to offshore resources activity in New South Wales coastal waters. In terms of that bill, it's obviously a matter for the New South Wales government, and I refer you to them about this point. But we do understand—