Mark Bishop (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

All these CSG projects are fully subject to state environmental regulation. In any event, the bill, if passed, would undermine efforts by the Australian government to assist the states to develop a harmonised, regulatory and best practice framework for CSG activity work currently being undertaken cooperatively by all interested jurisdictions, including the New South Wales government—Senator Heffernan's own colleagues down the road. That the bill is a crude political exercise is shown by the fact that it will not affect arrangements with respect to petroleum not found in coal seam or minerals not found in association with gas, even when there might be analogous environmental or regulatory issues. Again, as I said at the outset, the bill is so broadly drafted that any competent person could drive a bull and dray through it. (Time expired)