Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

That is a ludicrous proposition. It is a good ‘try on’ from the government, but it is clearly a ludicrous proposition. The minister has not answered the question. Why are you making consideration of climate change at the discretion of Infrastructure Australia and at the discretion of the minister and not mandatory? I would put to you that clause 5(1)(d), which you raised and which is about making them more efficient, is not necessarily about making them more greenhouse friendly or less oil intensive—although you would hope that they would be in the future because of costs. How does changing something from being discretionary to being mandatory weaken the legislation? On the contrary: it is requiring that climate change be taken into account and not at the discretion of Infrastructure Australia or at the discretion of the minister. Why aren’t you prepared to have it be made mandatory if it is government policy?