Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Let's be very clear. Middle Arm is a publicly funded climate disaster in the making and it must not proceed. In the middle of a climate crisis, Anthony Albanese wants to use a whopping $1.5 billion of taxpayer money to subsidise a gas export and petrochemical hub a mere three kilometres from the centre of Darwin. This Middle Arm precinct will generate 15 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year and will open up the Beetaloo Basin to fracking, contributing to a catastrophic 11 per cent increase to Australia's emissions.

It is incomprehensible that, while communities are experiencing more extreme weather and mere weeks after the world experienced its hottest day on record, Labor would not only support new coal and gas but spend $1.5 billion of taxpayer money to fund it. There is enormous community opposition to the toxic gas and petrochemical hub that would be Middle Arm. The health impacts are clear. First Nations concerns, as my colleague Senator Cox outlined, are well established, and the lack of consultation with the Larrakia traditional owners has been woeful. Climate change is projected to disproportionately affect Northern Territory communities, and Darwin is expected to become a climate change sacrifice zone and uninhabitable in coming decades. Northern Territory residents are already at risk of extreme heat, rising sea levels and increasing natural disasters. The government must withdraw its $1.5 billion subsidy to support Darwin's Middle Arm precinct—because, frankly, Labor, you cannot have it both ways. You can't put in a bid to co-host a UN climate conference while spending billions in public money investing in dirty coal and gas expansion. Labor, you can't promote a future made in Australia while you're wrecking Australia, its climate, its biodiversity and the health of its communities.

Territorians will go to the polls this weekend, and they have a chance to send a strong message to the government that they oppose the toxic and dangerous Middle Arm hub. Territorians who feel betrayed by the major parties and want to protect the health of their region can send a strong message by not voting for the major parties, who continue to degrade and pollute their local environment. Territorians have a choice to vote green for a clean energy future.