Senate debates

Wednesday, 17 June 2020

Adjournment

Western Australia: Environment

7:37 pm

Photo of Dean SmithDean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Last night, in the adjournment debate, I was telling a compelling story about how the Western Australian Labor environment minister, Stephen Dawson, is the latest soft target for environmental alarmism in my home state of Western Australia. I'd like to continue that sorry tale. In November 2017, approximately nine months after appearing before the committee, Professor Black and former senators Bob Brown and Christine Milne wrote to Minister Dawson, repeating their alarmist and unsubstantiated claims. They requested he instruct the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a section 46 review of Yara Pilbara's operating licence.

Section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 states:

If the Minister considers that the implementation conditions relating to a proposal, or any of them, should be changed (whether because of changes to the proposal authorised under section 45C or for any other reason), the Minister may request the Authority to inquire into and report on the matter within such period as is specified in the request.

Section 46(6) requires the EPA report to include:

(a) a recommendation on whether or not the implementation conditions to which the inquiry relates, or any of them, should be changed; and

(b) other recommendations that it thinks appropriate.

This is a totally unnecessary step by the WA Labor environment minister but a heavy regulatory impost on Yara Pilbara, especially because the EPA had previously analysed Yara Pilbara's emissions and concluded it was unlikely that the predicted quantities of nitrogen oxide and ammonia that would be emitted from the TANPF would have a significant impact on rock art in the surrounding areas. However, in September 2019, after conducting an inquiry and acknowledging that Yara Pilbara already uses best-practice pollution control technology to minimise air emissions, the EPA recommended that the minister impose stronger licence conditions to protect Burrup Peninsula rock art from Yara's emissions. This advice was swiftly acted upon by Minister Dawson, when he issued Ministerial Statement No. 1121 on Christmas Eve in 2019, imposing stricter conditions on Yara Pilbara's facility.

What does all of this mean? Despite having already employed best-practice pollution control technology to minimise air emissions, Yara Pilbara must compare its operations against industry best practice every four years or when directed to do so by the WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulation. The practical implications of these new licence conditions mean Yara Pilbara could at any time be non-compliant with its operating licence, based on a subjective assessment of what constitutes best practice. Their licence to operate can now only be considered conditional, and all resource companies considering investment in Western Australia now need to consider the additional risk of having potential licence changes imposed upon them without scientific or evidentiary cause.

Not only is this a bad outcome for Yara Pilbara; it is a bad omen for all future resource project investment in my home state of Western Australia. Just when our mining and resource sector has been the lifeboat for the Australian economy during this pandemic, the actions of the WA Labor government have unnecessarily increased uncertainty for this critical part of our state and national economy, all because Minister Dawson fails to stand up to scientific alarmism—those in the community who masquerade as experts, building an argument by quoting out of context, selectively choosing data and misusing science. The objective of this alarmism is to obstruct and to derail industrial development across WA's far north.

My message tonight is a simple one. WA's resource sector should be alert and alarmed. This case study regarding Yara Pilbara and Professor David Black introduces a new, heightened degree of risk for existing and future resource projects in Western Australia. The WA Labor government and Minister Dawson have emboldened the activist movement and put at risk the employment opportunities of thousands. Potentially no resource company is safe from the campaign tactics and trickery of these activists. So be prepared. The activists will quickly move to their next victim, stir up the community, bully companies and the regulator into submission, and wrap job and wealth-creating resource companies in more and more red tape. WA's resource sector has been warned, and it's time for WA's resource sector to stand up and be counted.