Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

It is a full house!

I do believe that we need to evolve our thinking on how we deal with nature. I have said this in this chamber before, but, as a conservative, I believe I have a moral obligation to support, endorse, encourage, grow and enrich the compact between past, present and future generations. That compact must be at the heart of any environmental regulation. I don't believe it's something that is of the left or the right, because nature sustains us.

I believe that the conservative tradition has been corrupted with an overemphasis on economic liberalism and its benefits, and I think there needs to be a recasting. But I propose not the point of view of heavy-handed regulation but a restructured way of drafting our legislation that puts nature at the heart of all decision-making. I don't consider that at all a radical concept, as a lawyer of over 30 years standing.