Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Urban Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. I refer to the 1,800 gigalitres of partially treated sewage which state Labor governments either dump or authorise for discharge off our coasts every year. Does the minister stand by his view of 9 November 2005 that this practice is unacceptable? If not, what does he now regard as the acceptable standard for discharge: class C, class A or reverse osmosis?

Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not regard levels of discharge of sewage which are over the regulatory levels as acceptable, and I think no-one in this House would. If the member is asking me to form an opinion as to which of the options that he has identified is more acceptable than the other, I am happy to come back to him with an answer when I have considered it more fully.