Senate debates

Monday, 10 September 2012

Bills

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development) Bill 2012; In Committee

7:36 pm

Photo of Larissa WatersLarissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Minister. Perhaps it might be useful to include that in the bill, given that your side may not always be in government and it may not be a policy that is shared by the other side. So our position is that clearly such parameters should be reflected in the bill. I have an amendment to that effect. The other important point I would like to ask the minister about is the fact that the conflict disclosures made in those meetings, which are minuted, are included in appendices to the minutes which are not available online. If the purpose is, indeed, greater transparency then I ask the minister why the complete minutes, including the appendices wherein those conflicts are disclosed and, presumably, the decision of the meeting as to how they are dealt with—the relevant, and surely the most interesting, parts of the minutes—are not then published online.

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