Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I thought I had done all right with the bombarding, Senator Xenophon, but clearly not. I do not want to get drawn into this specific one because those are matters that would be for Minister Garrett, but generally the proposition would be that, if an EPBC Act approval—a decision—is made with conditions, under that act, as I understand it, such approval could be revoked if the conditions were not met. That is, if the proponent or other person were obliged to undertake certain activities that were a condition of the approval, they could be in breach of that approval and there would be a range of remedies under that act which would apply.

I have sought to be as helpful as I can. The officers I have here from the department are not from the division that deals with EPBC Act approvals. That is Minister Garrett’s area. If you want further information on that, I would have to get those officers here. These are officers who deal with the Water Act, the water bill and related matters. There is a separate approvals division of the department.

I also have a question for Senator Nash. In terms of the point I made before, if there was an issue with the existing off-takes for Adelaide’s water supply which required some construction to move, is it her understanding that the amendment she and Senator Siewert have moved would prevent such action from being taken to secure Adelaide’s water supply?