Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment) Share this | Hansard source

You had ample opportunity to get it right, and you did not get it right. This dates back to the conduct of the Hawke review, started in 2010, which went through and demonstrated absolutely the importance of opening up the Woomera protected area for further minerals exploitation and development. This is something, I am pleased to see, Labor supports. At least on this issue they are not in bed with the Greens or any of the radicals as they seem to be on so many other issues. At least on this issue they do support actual economic development and advancement. I welcome the fact that Senator Farrell, from the right of the Labor Party, in this instance has managed to drag his left-wing colleagues, no doubt kicking and screaming, to a position of supporting continued mineral development and activity in South Australia and opening up this critical reserve in this critical area for further activities.

The Woomera protected area is vital. It is estimated that there is some $35 billion worth of resources in the Gawler Craton region, a vast sum. Some of it has already been tapped and is under development. There are four mines currently there—the Challenger goldmine; the Prominent Hill mine, with a primary focus on copper and gold; the Cairn Hill mine, with a focus on iron ore, magnetite, copper and gold; and the Peculiar Knob mine, with its focus on iron ore. We are not simply looking at a black and white issue at this stage, a situation where there is no activity and no opportunity. As my colleague Senator Bernardi rightly highlighted before, there are already a range of existing activities and there have continued to be a significant number of approvals given right into this year for continued exploration and activity within the Woomera protected area.

But there is an opportunity to improve the legislative setting that allows for coexistence on this 124,000 square kilometres of Australian territory. It is a vast tract of land and it is strategically important not just as a mineral reserve and an opportunity for economic growth but from a Defence perspective as well. That is why it is so fundamentally important that we get right the legislative settings to allow and facilitate the coexistence and co-use of this land to work properly in the future. Our defence forces need the certainty of being able to act in the best interests of the national security of Australia in terms of their activities on this land. And investors, miners, explorers need the certainty of knowledge that they will be able to go into the Woomera protected area and that their investments will be underpinned by the right degree of certainty in terms of the activities they undertake. The fundamental problem with the legislation that Senator Farrell suggests we should just get on with and pass is that it does not satisfactorily address all of those issues raised by the Hawke review and the following processes to give the adequate level of certainty to both Defence and miners and economic developers for the use of these lands.

We are committed to and have been going through a very extensive process to get it right. Defence have continued to work on this. Even while the previous government was trying to rush through its legislation, Defence were still working to try to fix the problems. They were still going through the proper consultation in July last year. They were continuing consultation in August because of issues that were identified with the legislation brought into this place. Defence were meeting with rail companies, who of course have particular access rights in existence already, to address their issues and work through the agreement around the existing user rights and work through agreements around how the associated infrastructure for rail is treated and ensuring that we have appropriate arrangements in place to protect their investments.

It was pleasing that in August the Australian Rail Track Corporation confirmed some progress in that regard. It continued in September last year with discussions with the South Australian government, who had identified their own concerns with the legislation brought in by the previous government. Defence worked through the relevant South Australian department and agencies representing the resources and energy sector to try to address some of the issues. So, at the very time that essentially identical legislation sat in this parliament that Senator Farrell, as a member of the then government, was urging that we pass, Defence was trying to work through problems with that legislation.

That is the contrast. In government they were urging the passage of flawed legislation even though they knew there were problems with it and even though departmental officials were trying to rectify those problems. Strangely, they now come in here, purely for political reasons of posturing and grandstanding around the South Australian election, and argue we should still pass what they know to be flawed legislation. Correct legislation will be on the table very, very soon, and then we will be able to make sure that we get the right arrangements in place to facilitate the opening up of these lands.

It is, as I said, very much a political machination by those opposite. They are not pursuing this because it is something that they think the government will never do. Senator Farrell seems to acknowledge happily that this government has given very clear commitments to do this and that we will do it.