Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Speaking of political theatre, I appreciate what the member for Moore has said, but Labor and the Greens still would have swapped preferences at the last election. The member for Moore and the member for Ryan both would have enjoyed and benefited from each other's preferences in their respective seats. This motion was brought in by the leader of the Greens in the House of Representatives, the member for Ryan—and she is the leader because she is the only one left. It's a bit like TheLast of the Mohicans. I do respect the member for Ryan. She is alone for a simple reason. It's because Australia has woken up to the woke Greens. Australia knows full well that, if we let the Greens take charge of the treasury benches and financial policy, then there won't be any money to keep the lights on. There won't be any money to fund schools and hospitals. This is the sort of motion that we have in this parliament. It's a time-waster brought in to stop Woodside—a good company; a responsible company; a company that is helping to pay royalties to keep the lights on, to keep hospitals funded, to keep people well and to keep children educated.

The federal government announced a proposed decision to grant environmental approval to extend the operating life of the North West Shelf project in May 2025. This followed six years of rigorous environmental assessment at both the state and Commonwealth level. Let me tell you—you don't get approval to mine anything, to dig anything up, to drill anything and to extract anything in this nation unless there are proper protocols and processes followed. Woodside has been made to do everything in its power, and others besides, to get this project up and running. A final decision to approve the proposal would enable the North West Shelf joint venture to continue its present operations beyond 2030, and that's important because we're talking about royalties here. It's not only that; it's also an economic lift for Western Australia and, indeed, jobs.

If the Greens had their way, we'd all be ecotourists. We'd be going out to the Murray-Darling and saying: 'Oh, this is where we used to grow fruit and vegetables. This is where we used to allow irrigators and farmers to do what they did best in the world.' And then we'd go to a mine site and say: 'This is where we used to dig up iron ore. This is where we used to produce items and minerals to be able to produce steel, to be able to have a construction industry—to be able to do all the things that made Australia's export and balance of payments great, but now we do not.' This is on Labor's watch. It's on the Greens. They are not an environmental party—make no mistake. They are about changing the social fabric of this nation. That's what the Greens are. Gone are the days of Bob Brown and environmental activism; now it's social activism. Now it's marching on the streets for every cause, with every protester and with every rent-seeker in this nation. Make no mistake—that's what the Greens are about. The Greens are about changing the way we live and making sure that we follow every little trendy thing on TikTok that is going to ruin our nation.

If we follow the Greens, that's where they will take us—and not too far behind will be the Labor Party because, unfortunately, the Labor Party relies on Green preferences, many of them to get elected. They're one and the same. But we in the coalition do believe in those people who put on hard hats, go underground, get themselves dirty and get dirt under their fingernails to make sure we have a mining industry, and we should not demonise the mining industry. We should be very proud of what the mining industry has done for our nation.

I heard the member for Moore talk about the Murray-Darling Basin in his address. The proposals and the changes to the draft plan for the Murray-Darling Basin put forward by me and other National Party members and regional Liberals have saved the very best food- and fibre-producing area in this nation. It wasn't the Greens, and it certainly wasn't Labor. This motion should be condemned for what it represents: nothing.

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