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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment and Water (Senator Wong) to a question without notice I asked today relating to a coal seam gas project.

The hypocrisy of this government is so stark when you listen to the answers Minister Wong gave to the questions I asked about the environment minister's new approval of a big coal seam gas project for Gina Rinehart, which is going to threaten hundreds of hectares of koala habitat, threaten the water supply and, as we know, make climate change even worse. It will create more fossil fuel pollution right up until 2080. This is from a government who say they want to be at net zero by 2050. They say they want to take action on climate change, yet the environment minister continues to approve and green-light coal and gas mines, over and over again. You can't reduce pollution and tackle climate change if you keep making the situation worse.

On the other hand, we know that the government has committed to zero extinctions. We are facing an extinction crisis. We have iconic wildlife in this country, like our koala, facing extinction because they can't continue to live in their habitat. It's being destroyed by coal seam gas projects, by coalmines, by development and by native forest logging. Rather than putting a stop to the destruction of koala habitat—a moratorium that would save the homes of koalas to stop their extinction—the environment minister is continuing to approve projects that destroy their homes. It's incredibly hypocritical for anyone to say they care about the climate and about pollution, to have photo ops with cuddly koalas and to claim to care about them but to continue to be the minister in charge of signing off on these coal and gas mines.

This new coal seam gas project, owned by Gina Rinehart, is going to create 151 new gas wells in Queensland. The minister had already signed off on the pipeline for Gina Rinehart's company only two weeks ago, and this week, under the cover of the coalition's dangerous ploy on nuclear, the minister for the environment has now done the whole hog. She has signed off and given approval for Gina Rinehart not just to have the pipeline but to now have 151 gas wells. This is going to threaten our environment, put our climate in further crisis and make it nearly impossible to meet net zero by 2050, let alone the interim targets in 2030.

The government seems incapable of sticking by the promises it's made the Australian people to tackle climate change properly, to cut pollution, to protect nature and to stop extinctions of our animals. They say one thing over here and they do another, helping their fossil fuel mates. I know Gina Rinehart would be pretty happy with this decision. The richest person in the country is now getting further approval to continue to make more money off the back of destroying the planet. Australians, including Labor voters and progressive voters across the country, are going to be shocked that Tanya Plibersek, as environment minister, has approved Gina Rinehart destroying more of the countryside and more koala habitat so that she can continue to make more money at the expense of the climate. Gina Rinehart doesn't need to make any more money. She's one of the richest people in the world, at the cost of our planet and our environment. Now we see our precious koalas on the chopping block so that Gina Rinehart can make a bit more money—a few more dollars. It's just obscene that in a climate crisis, in a crisis of nature, we have the country's environment minister greenlighting these climate-destroying, climate-wrecking mines. What is the point of an environment minister if she's not going to stand up for the environment?

Question agreed to.