Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

It's all or nothing with the Australian Greens when it comes to projects that need to occur across our country. I note that this motion calls on the Commonwealth government to unequivocally rule out approval for the project that's been mentioned here, a project described by the Prime Minister as one that is needed for energy reliability. That's something that wasn't canvassed in the contribution we've just heard or, indeed, canvassed in the motion we have before us, and that is part of my problem with the debate we're about to have.

There is one word that you will never hear pass the lips of the Australian Greens, and it starts with the letter B. It's the word 'balance'. There should be a balance between the considerations of environment, the need to protect what is fragile, what is special and what needs to be looked after for future generations, against the economic imperative we have—the need to have economic activity and productivity, the need to bring down power prices, the need to have jobs in our country. A balancing of those considerations is absolutely essential, but it's something that isn't in any way considered in what we have before us here.

It really is a sneak preview into something I think we may, as a country, see more and more of as time progresses. While I'm on it, a news poll came out overnight which pointed to the high likelihood of there being a hung parliament after their next election. Coming from the great state of Tasmania, which has had more than its fair share of hung parliaments, I know what goes into decline with a hung parliament, where there's a power-sharing arrangement with a particular cohort—the Australian Greens or perhaps the Tasmanian Greens. It's the economy. Jobs go missing; they go offshore. Standard of living heads south like there's no tomorrow. And this is a sneak preview of the kind of thinking we're going to have in this brave new world of coalition governments between the Greens and the Labor Party, if the polls are to be believed. I hope they're wrong, and I'll be doing my darndest to ensure that they're not accurate come election day, but I know exactly—