Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

The government opposes this bill, the Blayney Gold Mine Bill 2024. The statement of reasons for the minister's decision has been available on the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water's website for some time, and the minister has spoken at length about her decision, including to the parliament.

As the company has commenced legal proceedings in the Federal Court, it would not be appropriate to provide any further running commentary before the court has had its say. What I will say is that, under the Albanese Labor government, we have approved more than 40 mining projects and have doubled the rate of on-time approvals since coming to government.

Just last month, Minister Plibersek approved a new critical minerals project near Broken Hill. The Broken Hill Cobalt Project will mine and refine cobalt for use in batteries. That's critical for transition. It will be one of the largest producers of cobalt to use in batteries anywhere in the world. It will produce enough cobalt to power millions of electric vehicles. It will create hundreds of jobs. Minister Plibersek was able to do this because she follows the law and applies it to the facts of the projects before her.

What should be deeply concerning to Australian people and to those in the Senate is that the opposition leader has said that he would approve projects without knowing the details or applying the law. Clearly, those opposite want a system where getting projects approved depends more on whether they like you than on whether you comply with the law. It's a dangerous way to operate, and a recipe for uncertainty that will scare off investment and kill jobs—a dangerous way to operate for that very reason. There won't be a renewable energy project that's safe. The opposition should explain whether there are other projects that will be approved or axed without them knowing the details or applying the law. The Liberals have said that they will halve environmental approval times, with no plan to get there. We know what that means: Peter Dutton will wave through approvals on his pet projects without any consideration of their environmental impacts.