George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Waters, every man and woman on the coalition bench loves the environment. I accept, by the way, Senator Waters, that you love the environment, and I even accept that the Australian Labor Party loves the environment. It is a question of how you treat people. It is a question of how you deliver. The EPBC Act, the most comprehensive set of environmental laws that the Australian parliament has ever passed, is of course the work of the Howard government. But there is a provision of the EPBC Act—section 487—which has been taken advantage of, not by the good solid citizens to whom you refer but by the sort of people who have the hide to put out a document like this, 'Stopping the Australian coal export boom', and declare their intention to use the courts as a political tool rather than for the legitimate resolution of disputes between citizens. They are the vigilantes, and we are going to put a stop to it.