Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The answer, as far as the Greens in office are concerned, is that we want to take it on the criteria that Senator Milne outlined earlier, and if it were injurious to the environment, as Anvil Hill is, then it would not proceed. I ask the minister what he thinks of the power station in Victoria which, according to the report of Sir Nicholas Stern, is putting out greenhouse gases which, in a carbon constrained world where a price was put on carbon, would be costing $1.6 billion annually. That is the impost on the environment. Does the minister believe that calculations of the damage done by pollution, under the polluter-pays principle, should be taken into account? Besides the environmental impact, should the actual potential economic impact be assessed before such projects are given the go-ahead?