Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Cormann, the Minister representing the Prime Minister. Senator Cormann, isn't it true that, without Commonwealth environmental protections, the Franklin River would have been dammed, the Great Barrier Reef would have been riddled with oil rigs and whaling in Western Australia would have continued?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hanson-Young for that question, and it's my great privilege to confirm for Senator Hanson-Young that our government supports environmental protection.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hanson-Young, a supplementary question?

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Note that the minister didn't actually answer my question. The environment minister has said that this government will introduce national environment standards after the passage of this piece of legislation currently before the House. Why would we trust that this government would do anything to act in the interests of the environment, when we know that all they're doing is acting in the interests of the fossil fuel industry?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I completely reject the premise of that question. What I would say is what I have said often in this chamber over my 13½ years here, and that is that on our side of the chamber we support environmental protection in a way that is economically responsible. We do want to see Australia continue to go from strength to strength, creating opportunities for Australians today and into the future to get ahead. We want to have projects get up across Australia, and we want those projects to be rigorously assessed to ensure

they comply with all of the relevant environmental laws at a state and federal level, but we want those processes to be conducted in a way that is efficient. That is why we are prepared to entrust these sorts of arrangements to state governments. In Western Australia, that is a state Labor government. Unless you are saying that the state Labor government in Western Australia are a bunch of environmental vandals, I don't know what it is that you're accusing us of. I'm not accusing them of that; I think that the state government in WA has the same objective as us.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Cormann. Senator Hanson-Young, a final supplementary question?

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's interesting that the minister refers to WA, because of course we've seen what happens when there are not strong enough environmental protections: Rio Tinto blows things up. How many times has this government had representatives meet with Rio Tinto or Santos in relation to the Narrabri gas projects to get these laws passed to vandalise our environment?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the issue that Senator Hanson-Young is referencing there relates to state legislation, actually, not federal legislation. The second point I would make is that our government does not ever support environmental vandalism. We support environmental protection in a way that is economically responsible. We want to see opportunities created for Australians today and into the future to get ahead, while we are also preserving and protecting the great value of our environment. But we don't want to lock Australia up. We don't want to prevent further development that is environmentally responsible.

Hon. Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The truth is, listening to the interjections—which I should be ignoring, I know—there is no level of development that the Greens would ever accept. If it came down to the Greens, we would all be going back into the caves. We wouldn't be driving any cars, although I'm sure you got here by a car. We wouldn't fly planes, although you came here by a plane.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Cormann. Senator Griff.