Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate calls on the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts (Mr Garrett) to make public in the week beginning 13 September 2009 the draft report on the Traveston Dam by Queensland’s Coordinator-General.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—Minister Garrett’s statutory decision-making responsibility for the Traveston Dam proposal will not commence until the Queensland government formally submits the Coordinator-General’s final assessment report. A decision on the proposal will then only be made after thorough consideration of all relevant information in strict accordance with the requirements of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The Australian government calls on Senator Bob Brown to make himself aware of and have respect for the proper processes by which environmental decision making occurs. The act includes opportunities for public comment and, in relation to the Traveston proposal, these opportunities have been utilised extensively.

As the minister’s track record in relation to this and other proposals demonstrates, he is committed to ensuring that environmental assessment processes are conducted in a rigorous, comprehensive and transparent manner. However, the public release of material relevant to a project will always be carried out in accordance with the proper process under national environmental law. The draft report is a document of the Queensland government, and it is for the Queensland government to decide whether it wishes to release it.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—That was not just waffle; it was also a move by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, through Senator Ludwig, to shut the public out of the process of evaluating the social, economic and environmental impacts of the Traveston Dam. People in Queensland and beyond—not least the 1,000 farmers who are going to be dispossessed of their land by the Queensland Labor government process—are vitally interested in it.

The motion simply calls for the report, which the Queensland Coordinator-General has compiled on the Traveston Dam and given to the minister for the environment, to be made public so that there can be public comment and so that the public knows what the process is. It is a draft report, but I would have thought it was plainly decent in an open democracy for the minister for the environment to release that report. It was given to him for his evaluation and consideration and for his feedback to the Queensland government. Is that process going to take place in total secrecy? If what the government has just said is true, that is the case. There is a deliberated effort by the minister for the environment and his counterparts in the Queensland Labor government to shut the public out. That is not acceptable. The process is open, and it is open to the minister to release this report. The Queensland government should release it. The minister is indicating that, when the final report comes to him, he will not have public input into that either. That is a travesty regarding the Traveston Dam. It is not acceptable. The government should be ashamed of this effort to cut the public out of this process.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—The coalition will support this motion. The matters that Senator Brown has raised are very relevant. I also have a concern that the Queensland Premier is lobbying the Prime Minister in relation to this dam. That has been publicly reported and, in fact, has been reported in comments by the Queensland Premier herself. I understand, as I am sure Senator Brown does, what the EPBC Act says. One wonders why the Queensland Premier is petitioning and lobbying the Prime Minister if she does not expect the Prime Minister to have some influence on whether or not approval will be given by the federal minister to this ridiculous, unworkable, stupid and environmentally damaging proposal by the Queensland government. For those reasons, the coalition will be supporting this motion.

Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—The government opposes this motion. We recognise that it will be carried with the support of the government and the Greens and we will therefore not call for a division.

Question agreed to.