Robert Oakeshott (Lyne, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I seek some clarification from the minister. Wherever a project, either coal-seam gas or large-scale coalmining, is on the spectrum of planning—even at the exploration stage through to the development application stage—my understanding is that every step along the way as of now the science decides whether we progress in a planning sense to the next stage. That is my understanding. I seek some clarification from the minister. If I am correct and the science now is at the heart of every gateway in the planning process, a one-year or five-year moratorium, in my view, is unnecessary. The science is here; the science is now. It is the law as of today. For those reasons, I think a moratorium is not necessary and, if anything, we should be celebrating the success of this bill in finally injecting much needed science into the planning process at all steps along the spectrum of that process.

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