Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bradfield and congratulate her on her election as well. The first thing to say with respect to the North West Shelf is there are two sets of legal provisions. There are the legal provisions that we've made on environmental law which go to a range of environmental treaties—that's their basis—and that are handled by the Minister for the Environment and Water, and there are a series of other pieces of legislation handled by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy that make sure that the government are doing what we said we would do with respect to emissions. The project on the North West Shelf that the member for Bradfield refers to is subject to both. So, in terms of the impact on climate change, it is subject to the safeguard mechanism. It's subject to the safeguard mechanism because it's a high-emitting project. The laws that we've passed with respect to climate change apply to that project.

But, at the same time, when the environment minister considers environmental law, that's where they consider a series of other issues, including threatened species, and in this case, quite specifically, issues around heritage and, in particular, issues relating to rock art. There are specific conditions that the proposed decision—at the moment it's a proposed decision; the final decision hasn't come down. But the environment minister has put forward a proposed decision. With respect to the concerns about the potential impact on the nearby rock art, there are strict conditions on air emissions which have been put forward in that proposed decision. So, in terms of the impact on climate change, it's affected by the other legislation we've put in place, and, in terms of the heritage impact, it's affected specifically by the EPBC Act—what's known as our environmental legislation.

The member would be aware of the different things that have been said already by the government, particularly by the environment minister, in terms of the work that the government is doing both with industry stakeholders and with environmental groups to try to make sure that we can bring environmental law reform together in this term. That negotiation is happening, that work is happening, because at the moment, until we're able to get environmental laws that are fit for purpose, we have a situation where no-one wins in terms of business, which wants to make sure it can get decisions in a timely way. From the environmental perspective, we want to make sure we are better able to protect our precious environment and our Australian heritage. The minister has made it clear that that work is being done, and it's being done by the government.

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