Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

What a remarkably hyperventilating motion this is. There is a third option, Senator Waters—through you, Madam Acting Deputy President Polley—in addition to the two you listed. That is that these leaks were known about, that they were catered for in the emissions reporting of this company and that the regulator was fully aware of them. It was not the scare campaign that you are attempting to drive here in this place today. The hyperventilation present in this motion is absolutely ridiculous. It's not new. In fact, it has previously been publicly reported. You don't like to mention that, because you want it to appear as some massive uncovering of some secret arrangement or the hiding of something that's been done in the past, when, in actual fact, it's been publicly reported. In fact, it's been included in the safety case and it's been part of the emissions reporting, as required under the law. We should not attempt to create something here that doesn't exist.

This is part of a long-term strategy from the Greens to be completely anti gas regardless of the impact on the economy, on the communities involved, on our energy system or on my home state of Western Australia, which is dependent on gas for 70 per cent of its energy requirements, both directly and indirectly. If you do what the Greens want, which is turn off the gas tomorrow—actually, it's not turn off the gas tomorrow but turn off the gas yesterday—then all these systems would fall apart. The economy would fall apart, people's livelihoods would fall apart and manufacturing would fall apart. We should not allow the Greens to trap us into believing their rhetoric on this issue.

I say once again to all those listening to this broadcast: this is not a matter of urgency in any way, shape or form. It is not new. It's been publicly reported on previously. It wasn't uncovered by an environment group in the Northern Territory. It has been included in safety cases. It's been included in the proposals to continue using this facility in the years to come. These facilities are absolutely vital to the economic wellbeing of places like the Northern Territory and Darwin. In the case of projects such as this in my home state of Western Australia, they are absolutely essential. Without new projects coming online, Western Australia will start to run out of gas in a couple of years.

It's absolutely vital that this infrastructure, which has existed for decades, which has been regulated under the law for decades, where fugitive emissions have been reported, as they are required to be under the law, is allowed to continue to operate to generate the wealth this country requires into the future to generate future jobs and the prosperity that we have relied upon for the last 20 or 30 years. Everybody in this place, including those who sit on the far left of the chamber from my position, have been beneficiaries of it. They know they've been beneficiaries of it, and they will continue to be beneficiaries of it, even though they get up in this place and speak against it day after day.