Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Di Natale for his question. I have seen those reports this morning; I have not read every word but have looked through them. From my interpretation of them and also from the advice I have received from my department, there is nothing new in these reports this morning. Many of the issues raised by them are to do with allegations that are not proven at this stage, and others are well known and have been well known to Australian regulators now for the past few years.

I think we have very robust environmental and approval standards in this country. We have a proud record of environmental protection. We have an excellent and pristine environment in many parts of our country that we all want to protect. This project has been through those approval processes at the Queensland government level and has been through those processes at the federal government level. Different political parties, as governments, have looked at these projects and accepted and approved them with very stringent conditions—hundreds of conditions, with more than 30 here at the federal level. We have done the due diligence on these projects, we have looked at those issues that have been brought forward and we have concluded that we are very confident that our laws will be upheld, that our laws are appropriately designed and that our environment will be protected.

We must be clear. If Senator Di Natale is alleging that we have not done that due diligence properly through those approval processes, it is placing a slur on those public servants and independent regulators who have looked at them themselves and concluded these things. That has been the advice to government; that we can approve these projects, and that we can do so in a way that protects the environment and creates lots of economic opportunity and jobs for all Australians. I am confident that will happen and I hope this project does proceed.