Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

That is right: the member for Gorton is surprised about this—5,500 projects have been referred to the federal environment minister since the year 2000 for approval. I can inform you and the member for Gorton that a quarter—10 or 15 per cent would be a substantial number. The actual figure is less than half of one per cent—0.4 per cent; that is right. So where is this emergency?

I know they have precious little legislation to bring before the House. They cannot get it through their cabinet and they cannot get it through the parliament. But, surely, the people of Australia deserve a bit better than this. As the National Farmers' Federation have pointed out: this is not evidence based policy. They implore us as members of this place to reject the legislation. We implore members of the government to reject the legislation, because it is not good policy. It is not good for the government. It is not good for any government and it is certainly not good for the environment. I call on all members of this place to do the right thing and reject this legislation.

See this speech in context