address to parliament - BILLS - Nature Repair Market (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2023 - Consideration of Senate Message

This amendment put forward by the leader of the Nationals, the member for Maranoa, merely aligns the approvals required for industry activities for both gas extraction and carbon sequestration to the same standards, ensuring that, where there is the potential for a significant impact on water resources, the injection and permanent storage of carbon dioxide underground will meet the same scientific standards through the approval process as part of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. That's what we're talking about here.

We just heard a rant from the member for Melbourne. He asks and calls to give him a break. I tell you what: Australian farmers won't just give him a break; they'll give him the food on his table, three times a day every day. He should thank farmers. He shouldn't come into this place, as he and his coterie so often do, and malign our farmers, who are the best in the world. If they were left at the behest of the Greens, our farmers would not even be in existence. We hear so often from the Greens about the Beetaloo basin, about our farmers and about the Murray-Darling Basin. I challenge the member for Melbourne, the Greens leader, and his cohort to actually leave their capital cities, leave the confines of their ivory towers, come into regional Australia and see some real work being done, to see the farmers who, with the sweat of their brows and the work of their hands, are getting dirt under their fingernails to produce the food on limited water.

Mr Bandt interjecting—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Dr Freelander ): Order! Member for Melbourne.

Mr McCORMACK: The member for Melbourne should just be quiet. He just might learn something.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I think that's my job to tell him that; not yours.

Mr McCORMACK: He just might learn something about our farmers. He talks about the Murray-Darling Basin. I appreciate that this is about the amendments brought to the chamber by the member for Maranoa, but our farmers aren't the only ones who are going to be affected by the changes that Senator Sarah Hanson-Young and the water minister, who I quite like, have brought to this place.

Honourable members interjecting—

Mr McCORMACK: I do, and she knows it—and it's mutual.

Honourable members interjecting—

Mr McCORMACK: I know it's mutual. The member for Lyons can laugh all he likes, but I've got a lot of respect for the water minister. That said, when Labor and the Greens get together on a motion, on a piece of legislation, it's not just going to affect our farmers. It's going to affect the cafes, the hairdressers, the schools and everyone else in the Murray-Darling Basin. This is sensible environmental policy, brought to you by the National Party, brought to you on behalf of our farmers. The member for New England is right when he talks about that wonderful underground inland river system called the artesian basin. We have to protect it. We have to look after it.

Mr Bandt interjecting—

Mr McCORMACK: We had a decade. That's more than what I hope you ever get, member for Melbourne. Let me tell you: when the leader of the Greens in the ACT wants the Greens to have cabinet spots in the federal parliament, I worry, I shake, I shiver with fear, because you could just imagine Senator Shoebridge in charge of justice. You could just imagine Senator Hanson-Young being in charge of agriculture. They're enough to make our farmers fear. They're enough to make our communities worry, to keep them awake at night.

This amendment will not keep Australians awake at night if it is approved. I appreciate the water minister saying she would look at it in the future. I hope they do more than just look at it in the future; I hope they vote with us today, because we have to look after our artesian basin. We have to make sure that the potable water is there not just for present needs but for future generations, because, once destroyed, we will never get it back. That's why these are sensible amendments. That's why the member for Maranoa has put forward these amendments to the amendments coming back from the Senate.

The member for New England is also right when he talks about what the member for Flynn has put forward. The member for Flynn has been working on this for months. He is a passionate Queenslander. He understands better than anyone the benefits of the artesian basin and the need to protect it. He comes to this place with experience in that regard. He was a former Queensland member of parliament. He understands how important mining is. He understands how important Gladstone harbour is. He understands how important farming is because he actually runs a farm, owns a farm, works a farm—more than I can say the member for Melbourne ever will.