Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy President, I look forward to being able to respond to this censure motion, but it is very difficult unless the other side maintains some sort of order. I note that Senator Carr has already been named in this session. One of the accusations is that the legal process was somehow not abided by, but the reality is that the legal process was gone through meticulously. The only reason that the proponent went to the court last week—and in fact approached us the week before and said, ‘We don’t want this to be in court anymore’—is because they did not have the chance before I made the decision to review the Biosis report. I happen to think that their having access to the Biosis report was an entirely fair thing.

I will repeat this; I did say it yesterday, but Senator Evans either is a slow learner or does not listen very well: the only reason they did not have access to the Biosis report—the cumulative impact assessment report, which is the report that assesses the combined effect of wind farms along that coast—was that the Biosis report was before me. The proponents knew it was before me; we told them very openly that I was considering this report. They did not seek a copy of the report. What they did was tell us that they intended to go to court to force me to make a decision. We said to them: ‘Look, there’s no need for you to go to court; I am reading the report at the moment. I should have completed reading it within a couple of days and, having read the report, would be happy to make the decision.’ That is the only reason—