David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of the chair of the committee, I present the report of the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee on the Environment and Infrastructure Legislation Amendment (Stop Adani) Bill 2017, together with the Hansard record of proceedings and documents presented to the committee.

Ordered that the report be printed.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a statement of no more than two minutes on the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee report.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday, two weeks out of winter, it was almost 34 degrees in Sydney. Today, we've got almost 100 bushfires burning across New South Wales. This was the hottest day in the 159 years since records were kept for that time of year. We are two weeks out of winter. Now, in the Atlantic, we've watched some of the most powerful storms ever recorded, wreaking havoc right across North America and the Caribbean resulting in the tragic loss of life. Just earlier, during motions, in response to this, we saw a minister laugh his way through a question on climate science. Here we are now with a report that makes it very clear. Are we going to act to stop Adani's giant, dirty, polluting coal mine from being built? They're doing everything they can to pave the way for Adani's mine and for the dying coal industry. This is negligence. It's disgraceful, and in a few years time people will look back and condemn this parliament for allowing this mine to get off the ground.

It's particularly duplicitous coming from the ALP. Federal Labor might pretend that it isn't beholden to the coal club, but we now know the truth. The truth is very, very clear. Queensland Labor is doing everything it can to get the Carmichael mine off the ground. We know that this mine wouldn't get off the ground if the Palaszczuk government refused to subsidise it, but it won't refuse to do that; in fact, it's supporting this mine. And now federal Labor doesn't have the guts to support a bill that would stop Adani. How many records need to be broken? How many lives need to be lost? Are we going to lose our Great Barrier Reef and have more bushfires and more extreme weather until we act? We have no time to delay.