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

I think it is important for us to recall the state which this proposal is at—which I thought I explained in detail yesterday to Senator Brown, from memory. Obviously, Senator Macdonald has come late to this question. It is important to note that the proposal for a Traveston dam has not formally been referred to the Commonwealth. It is only a preliminary or a draft report, I think, from the Queensland Coordinator-General, which has been provided to Minister Garrett’s department.

As I made clear yesterday, Mr Garrett has no formal involvement as a decision maker under the EPBC Act in this matter until he receives the final assessment report from the Queensland Coordinator-General. It is not the case that this has happened as yet and therefore Mr Garrett’s involvement is not yet enlivened, in the legal sense, under the EPBC Act. So, as yet, it is not the case that Mr Garrett has to make a decision on this issue.