Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for the Republic) Share this | Hansard source

I support the motion to suspend standing orders moved by the member for Warringah, so as to debate her bill and to vote on it to kill PEP-11. This parliament can kill PEP-11 today, and we should. Petroleum export permit 11 would grant Advent Energy the option to continue to explore for gas and oil off the coast of New South Wales, all the way from the Mid North Coast to the Newcastle region. It's a ridiculous proposal. It would have a detrimental effect on our environment, and, when the economy is beginning to open again, we're potentially going to kill one of the great benefits to the New South Wales economy, our tourism industry and all of the jobs that are created by tourism. The whale migration highway is up and down this coast, and a proposal like this would absolutely destroy that region's tourism industry, which is so important for Australia. It's environmental vandalism at its worst and it should be put to bed today.

The parliament has the opportunity to put it to bed. How long do we have to debate this issue? The permit expired well over 10 months ago, so the government should have made a decision on this permit by now. But the minister, Mr Pitt, won't make a decision. The member for Warringah's bill says the people of Australia want a decision made, and they want that decision made now. This parliament has the opportunity to do that now, so we don't need weasel words from the member for Robertson, the member for Mackellar, the member for Wentworth and the minister. They're trying to get out of this by saying, 'Well, we don't support PEP-11 and we also want to kill it.' We have got the opportunity, so let's do it today. Let's finish this debate and move on to debating the member for Warringah's bill and killing PEP-11 once and for all.

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