Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, who I believe is Senator Cash, as Minister Canavan is away today. As if the climate impacts of extracting the oil reserves in the Great Australian Bight weren't bad enough—we're not going to meet our Paris agreements if we do that—yesterday we saw the release of modelling from Equinor, the foreign company applying to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight. Their own modelling shows scenarios where, in the event of a spill, it could spread from as far as Albany in Western Australia all the way through to Bondi Beach and up to Port Macquarie. Why is the government backing a foreign oil company rather than the millions of Australians who live, work and play on our beautiful beaches and rely on our coastline?