Mr FALINSKI (Mackellar) (11:08): I stand here today as someone who is implacably opposed to PEP-11 and offshore drilling off the coast of Sydney, Newcastle and elsewhere. Late last year I moved a motion in this chamber calling on the government to do that. I was supported at that time by the member for Robertson, the member for Wentworth and the member for North Sydney. It is important to note that since that time the New South Wales government, a joint signatory to the joint authority, has come out opposed to this project. It is important to note that since that time the Prime Minister went to the Central Coast—more than Anthony Albanese has ever done or the member for wherever—
Honourable members interjecting—
The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Ms Bird): The member for Mackellar will ignore the interjections because they're about to stop.
Mr FALINSKI: He said to the communities that he was opposed to this licence. Why I am opposed to us suspending the standing orders and bringing on a debate on the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Stopping PEP11) Bill 2021 is that there has been no consultation with this side of the parliament over this. I have a note—
Honourable members interjecting—
Mr FALINSKI: The opposition leader may be interested in this, because I know he doesn't mind spending other people's money on things. I have a note from a constitutional lawyer in the Parliamentary Library that says that, if we pass this bill, it opens the taxpayers of Australia to a claim on just terms to potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to Advent Energy. I'm surprised those opposite are suddenly in favour of subsidising fossil fuel companies to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Now, do I want Minister Pitt to have made a decision not today but yesterday on this? Absolutely. This has dragged on too long. Let us not forget how all this started. This all started when the Carr Labor government in New South Wales decided to grant a licence to fossil fuel companies to poke, prod and blast the oceans off Newcastle with sonar and disturb the sea life in those areas for 25 years. That has happened. The Labor Party did that, not the Liberal Party. Now at the end of it, when we are trying to clean up the mess that they created, they now want to bring a bill to this parliament, without due process, without looking at it, without people examining the impacts of it, potentially opening the taxpayers of Australia to a compensation claim of hundreds of millions of dollars because they can't even be bothered consulting with us, they can't be bothered reading it and they can't be bothered taking advice on it. What would we expect from the Labor Party? They can't work with anyone to get anything done.
I'm surprised that the member for Melbourne, who apparently is the Leader of the Greens, now wants to give hundreds of millions of dollars to fossil fuel companies. Instead of working through the process—which I concur has taken far too long for Minister Pitt to reach a decision, but such is the nature of NOPSEMA and these regulatory authorities. At least he's going through the process and he is not seeking to use other people's money to compensate energy companies that should never have been given by the Labor Party in New South Wales a licence worth hundreds of millions of dollars. As they go through the process of trying to prove that, after 25 years of looking for gas and oil where there is no gas and oil, they should continue to hold this licence for no good reason, it is just extraordinary.
For this to occur just as we are getting to the end of the process reminds me of the old Chinese proverb that it's like the rooster trying to take credit for the sun coming up. We have gone through this process. We have diligently worked our way through it. I'm opposed to PEP-11. I'm opposed to the environmental damage it could do. I have stood up in this parliament. I have taken on my own government over this. I have fronted Keith Pitt and told him that a decision needs to be made. However, I don't see that on the other side. All I see is political stunts that never seem to know any end.
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansardr/25165/&sid=0048
