Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

No. In respect of this extraordinary event of the member for Cook not being permitted to join a branch of his own party in his own electorate, the state opposition leader said that ‘there is a state of civil war’ in the Liberal Party. And the former member for Cook, Mr Baird, described it as ‘factional nonsense which highlights the problems that we face’.

To recapitulate, the Rudd Labor government understands its environmental responsibilities. The minister for the environment understands his environmental responsibilities. If there is a proper and lawful basis for federal intervention in any major project anywhere in Australia which threatens matters of national environmental significance, the federal minister will act. But we will not be dictated to by the member for Cook or other members of his party who are intent on attacking state Labor governments, prepared to wholly ignore proper processes and pretend to have discovered very recently a concern for the environment which was not previously visible.

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