Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks Senator Hanson-Young. You are correct that Queensland is one of the states in Australia that has the role of coordinator-general. You've asked whether the role that we would be considering would be the same as that. The point of consultation is to develop a model. So we're not going into this having made the decision about that. We'll be talking to a range of parties, including the environment groups. I suspect I've probably had a lot more meetings with environment groups that you have lately, Senator Hanson-Young, in the process of drafting these reforms.

What I've heard from those environment groups is that they actually support the idea of faster and more efficient approvals and assessments, provided they are done in line with new national environmental safeguards. I would urge the Greens party, as these negotiations and the development of this legislation move forward, to pause the grandstanding for a little bit. You say that you like to listen to the environment movement. We're listening to the environment movement, just as we're listening to industry groups, and they all agree that they want faster approvals and stronger safeguards. You should do some listening to them. (Time expired)