Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)   notes that:

(i)   the Queensland Labor Government has invoked special powers to declare the Adani mega-coal mine, railway and associated water infrastructure to be "critical infrastructure", and

(ii)   the Great Barrier Reef suffered the worst ever mass bleaching event in March 2016, driven by coal-fuelled global warming; and

(b)   declares That the real critical infrastructure is our schools, hospitals, public transport, clean energy and the Great Barrier Reef.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government opposes this motion because the coalition supports investment and jobs for regional Queensland. The Carmichael project is a $16.5 billion investment that will create direct employment of around 4,200 jobs during construction and over 3½ thousand jobs when it is fully operational. The government welcomes the Queensland government's recent decision to declare the combined mine, rail and associated water infrastructure of the project as critical infrastructure.

The Queensland government says this special prescribed project status is necessary to unblock delays to obtaining a multitude of secondary local government approvals. We also call on the Queensland government to remove any remaining roadblocks to the approval of this project. Without this sort of investment, without jobs, infrastructure like schools, hospitals and transport cannot be paid for and delivered.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor was not consulted in advance on this motion. We will not be supporting it. The motion should note that the Queensland government introduced legislation to reduce land clearing and protect the Great Barrier Reef, but the legislation was defeated. It is surprising that the Greens clearly do not consider the following to be critical infrastructure: the NBN and all communications infrastructure; all social infrastructure, and not just schools and hospitals; universities; research facilities; roads; rail; airports; ports; cycleways and walkways; water storage and treatment; energy distribution and transmission; and any other major infrastructure that supports our nation's development and prosperity. It is also surprising to see the Greens call the Great Barrier Reef, and apparently no other reefs, infrastructure. Infrastructure is created by humans to serve human activity. Reefs are living entities in their own right that must be protected as natural assets.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Adani's mega coalmine belongs in the bin, but the Queensland government has bent over backwards to put it on the fast track. Queensland Labor was elected to save the reef, but instead it is fast-tracking dangerous coal by declaring it to be critical infrastructure. In an age of global warming, a new coalmine is not critical infrastructure, and, according to recent polls, three-quarters of Queenslanders agree. True critical infrastructure are the schools, hospitals, good farmland, clean energy and the world-class national parks across our state. True critical infrastructure is the Great Barrier Reef and the 70,000 jobs that it provides. Labor's decision to fast-track this mine is unprecedented and completely improper for a private development. That declaration could fast-track water assessments and potentially strip community review and appeal rights. It is time that Queensland Labor stopped bending over backwards to support multinational mining companies and started protecting the reef, planning for the transition away from coal and genuinely creating jobs in regional Queensland in a clean manner. (Time expired)

Question negatived.