Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to say, on behalf of the government, that we will not be supporting this urgency motion today because, again, this is just another sad attempted scare campaign from the Liberals and Nationals—Senator Duniam, in particular.

Looking at Senator Duniam's record on this, I'm sure he wakes up in the morning confused about which scare campaign he's running today, because all he's been doing in opposition is running scare campaigns. No matter what the issue is, we can rely on Senator Duniam to run a scare campaign, and we've seen a really, really good example of that. We also see from Senator Duniam faux concern about the environment. He comes in here and tries to act like he's concerned about the environment, but, since he's taken on that shadow portfolio, we haven't actually seen any positive action when it comes to the environment. Yes, he wants to run scare campaigns, but, when it comes to actually doing anything about the environment, they have been completely missing in action. We've been clear, and the Prime Minister has been clear, that we will not progress these bills, which is why we've lodged a motion today to discharge it from the Notice Paper. That will come up for a vote tomorrow.

We also know that the Liberals and Nationals have a record, when it comes to the environment, of teaming up with the Greens to block action. We wanted to pass bills that would mean faster environmental approvals for business, easier access to the latest environmental data for business and the fast-tracking of work with the states on critical minerals, housing and other energy projects. That's what this government wanted to achieve—that's what we wanted to consult on and do—but we had no support from those opposite. Indeed, all we've seen is opposition—and where they can they run a scare campaign.

We want to provide that certainty that state governments and proponents want. That's what we've been working diligently on behind the scenes to get done. So it's really disappointing, at a time when we need these projects that are going to generate opportunity, jobs and income for this country, that those opposite cannot work constructively with government to get these things done. It really goes to show that they have learnt nothing from their time in opposition and that they cannot possibly put the national interest first. They are incapable of putting the national interest first.

Let's be clear about the record of those opposite in this space when they were in government. Last time they were in charge of the environment department, they cut resourcing by 40 per cent, and we know they're going to set out to do that again if they're successful at the election. But that has real consequences for these sorts of projects. Businesses across Australia were impacted because it meant that less than half of environmental decisions were made on time. That is the consequence of their decision. When they say 'cuts', this is what it means. It has a negative impact on businesses who are trying to create jobs and economic wealth in this country.

The average federal decision for a new project under the coalition government was 116 days behind schedule. When they did get around to making a decision, 80 per cent of those decisions were either non-compliant or full of errors. These delays hurt business and slowed down projects across the country, and that is what this government has been trying to fix. We inherited a complete mess from those opposite. They take no accountability for that. They don't own up to it. And they've learnt no lessons from their time in government, from the mess that we've been trying to fix. What they should have done is come to the table and work constructively to fix these issues, knowing that these projects help generate jobs and opportunity in this country.

Our government has turned these delays around. We have doubled average on-time approvals to 84 per cent and invested around $420 million to boost approvals processing. The truth is that Australians would be worse off under Peter Dutton and the Liberals and Nationals, who, again, refuse to rule out cuts to the environment department, which will result in continued delays to critical projects which impact on business in this country.

What the Australian people can do is rely on us to act in the national interest, to not fall for silly scare campaigns that those opposite want to run and to do the right thing by the environment at the same time. That has been the record of Labor governments in this country for a long period of time. So I urge you to reject this urgency motion from Senator Duniam and work with us constructively to get proper legislation done that is going to improve approval times in this country and ensure that we can get these projects done for benefit of this country, for jobs and economic opportunity.