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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-02-11 Daily Xml
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Nuclear Industry

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (14:41): My question is directed to the Minister for Environment. Does the minister, as Minister for Environment, agree with the Premier's statement that he made on Monday this week, and I quote:

The threat of climate change is a greater risk than the threats associated with the deepening involvement in the nuclear industry.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:42): I thank the Hon. Mr Lucas for his follow-up question from yesterday and, indeed, for providing me with a copy of Liberal Party media monitoring which relates to his question. Of course, I think from memory, without having checked the Hansard—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: I thought you told me it was Liberal Party media monitoring. I beg your forgiveness. I think I recall from yesterday's question that Mr Lucas asked, without having checked the Hansard, that he actually mentioned something about policy change. Again, I was very careful in my response yesterday, because I understand that Mr Lucas, as his leader, the Hon. Mr Ridgway, often uses language very loosely in this place and paraphrases to other people's detriment, because of course talking about policy change before we have the royal commission is a little bit like putting the cart before the horse.

As the Premier was quoted in The Australian (either today or yesterday, I cannot recall), he said that any discussion about policy change wouldn't happen until after we have actually heard about the facts, we have had the debate as a community, we have talked about all the relevant information that has come to light in the last 20 or 30 years and then, having had that robust discussion, having seen all the evidence and all the facts put before the community, the community and the people of South Australia could have a significant role in making a determination and then subsequently, if needed, to make policy change.

So, again, the Hon. Mr Lucas is trying to lead with a fancy use of language, but who is the real threat? Who is the real threat? Is it climate change or is it the Liberal Party? As we all know, we are faced with extreme weather events, rising temperatures, rising sea levels and, yet, of course, it is only in recent memory, of course, that the former government of Queensland issued an instruction to Moreton Bay Regional Council to remove references to climate change derived sea level rises from a regional plan. That is the Liberal Party approach to climate change: put your head in the sand, tell councils they can't talk about climate change or sea level rises and take it out of their plan. That is the Liberal approach to climate change.

We have not forgotten the biggest environmental policy the Liberals took to the last election. What was that? To scrap marine parks, to gut marine parks. One of the greatest most important conservation initiatives our state has ever undertaken and they wanted to rip the jewels out of the crown of marine parks. That was their promise at the last election, that is what they were committed to. Surprisingly, what happened? They got a massive donation from interests associated with gutting marine parks—all on the public record, of course—and that is an indication of the threat not just to the environment and climate change but our democracy when the Liberal Party's policies are out there to be bought to the highest bidder.

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