House debates

Thursday, 17 September 2015

Questions without Notice

Water

2:51 pm

Photo of Greg HuntGreg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Hansard source

They are sensitive about the fact that they voted for precisely this provision. So that is the issue in relation to standing. Firstly, there was an utterly false statement. Right now, and under any proposed alternative, farmers have the absolute right to stand up for and challenge any decision.

The second thing is in relation to the Shenhua decision. There were extraordinary provisions put in place, the most stringent in Australian history, and there are three further sets of reviews to be taken—three further sets of reviews which will be assessed. And these are standards above and beyond anything else that we have seen in Australian history.

So, yes, sometimes as an environment minister you have to deal with the things which are placed before you in the docket. They are there on the list that is before you, and you have to deal with it not on the basis of politics but on the basis of the best available science. And there was not just one or two, three, four or five but six—

Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting

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