House of Assembly Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2) 54 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Minister for Environment and Water Minister for Environment and Water Dr CLOSE House of Assembly Port Adelaide Deputy Leader of the Opposition Minister for Environment and Water Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:07): My question again is to the Minister for Environment and Water. Has the minister ever had to excuse himself from cabinet discussions over climate change because he held shares in a coalmining company? Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS House of Assembly Black Minister for Environment and Water The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Minister for Environment and Water) (14:08): I also— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is called to order. The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS House of Assembly The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —drive a petrol car. Maybe one day I will drive an electric vehicle, but at the moment I drive a petrol car and I am not excusing myself from cabinet for that. There are many activities that we undertake in life which have a potentially detrimental impact on emissions going into the atmosphere, but you try to do your best as a citizen—in my case, as the minister—to lower your carbon footprint. When I fly, I sometimes pay the carbon offset there. I think that probably the vast majority of people in this house have exposure to mining companies, and potentially coalmining companies— The Hon. S.C. Mullighan House of Assembly The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: Well, we do—we're in here with you. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is called to order. The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS House of Assembly The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: —through superannuation investments, and I don't think that they feel they needed to excuse themselves from climate-related discussions as a consequence of that. Actually, we can see this drift into exactly what I was talking about yesterday and over recent days, this drift into the sort of crazy, woke left, lecturing, patronising stuff rather than taking a practical, sensible approach.