NYRSTAR

Mr BROCK (Frome) (14:18): I have a supplementary, Madam Speaker, and this is to the minister for the environment. The press release in The Australian this morning says that the company also faces new licence conditions from the state Environment Protection Authority, expected to cost $500 million. Can the minister make any comment on that?

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome, that was actually another question, but I will give you that out of graciousness.

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton—Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:18): I thank the honourable member for his question. It is common knowledge within this chamber that variations were made to the licence conditions. Those variations have been agreed to by Nyrstar and, of course, those variations are, as my colleague said, about ensuring that the environmental footprint, and indeed the lead emissions, are and continue to be significantly reduced through this particular process.

With respect to the $500 million, I am not quite sure where that has been plucked from, but what I would say is that the commitment made by Nyrstar with respect to the agreement of the variations and conditions, as was mentioned by my colleague, will necessitate investment in infrastructure to achieve those variations. With respect to the figure, I can't comment on that because I don't know. All I do know, as this house knows, is that matters of enforcement, compliance and licence conditions are matters for the EPA. However those variations were agreed to between the EPA and Nyrstar.