Speaker: Representatives from the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine, including immediate past president Dr. Stephen Gourley and president Dr. Peter Alley. Welcome to you all.
Give the call to the honourable member for Bradfield.
Nicolette Boele MP: Thank you, Speaker. My question is for the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment.
We're heading into an El Niño summer supercharged by climate pollution, and last week the High Court confirmed what's already common sense: climate pollution from our coal, no matter where it's burned, is our responsibility, and we should assess coal mine applications accordingly. Now, the application for the largest coal mine extension in New South Wales history is sitting on the federal minister's desk for decision.
Given he's the Minister for the Environment and not the Minister against the environment, when will the federal government reject this enormous coal and climate calamity?
Speaker: Give the call to the Leader of the House representing the Minister for the Environment and Water.
Tony Burke MP: Thanks very much, Mr Speaker, and I thank the member for Bradfield for the question.
It goes to a few issues. It goes to the High Court case, it goes to environmental approval, and it goes to action on climate change.
If I start with the High Court case, first of all, the court case does not relate to a Commonwealth decision. The court case was made quite specifically with respect to New South Wales law.
All federal decisions on environmental approvals are made under the EPBC Act, under federal environmental law. So the Commonwealth case doesn't have a bearing on the legality of decisions that are made under federal environmental law.
Secondly, as sometimes happens in questions in this place, there's a merging of environmental approvals with the decisions we take on action on climate change, and we use quite different mechanisms, as this Parliament has decided to do so, and as the member knows.
In terms of action on climate change, that's where we use the safeguard mechanism. And that's what we've been using to deliver significant outcomes in terms of action on climate change.
When it comes to environmental approvals, the Minister, when working through environmental approvals, has very specific issues to take into account. They're all based on international treaties, largely the powers contained in the EPBC Act. But they are separate to the mechanisms that we deal with respect to climate change.
My understanding is that Hunter Valley Operations have proposed an extension. It's an extension to existing mines in previously mined areas. The New South Wales State Independent Planning Commission has already given its approval with strict conditions.
The state approval does not pre-empt a federal approval, they're separate processes.
The National Environmental Protection Agency, and I'm very proud to say we now have a federal EPA, it’s currently considering the project and whether it should be approved under federal law.
All public submissions and advice from the Independent Expert Scientific Committee will be taken into account before a final decision is made. And as I'm sure the member would appreciate, while the matter remains under consideration, it's not appropriate for me to comment further.