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representatives vote 2021-10-21#1
Edited by
mackay staff
on
2022-08-26 10:52:26
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Title
Business — Rearrangement- Business - Rearrangement - Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Stopping PEP11) Bill 2021
Description
<p class="speaker">Zali Steggall</p><p>by leave—I move:</p>-
- The majority voted in favour of *disagreeing* with a [motion](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/debates/?id=2021-10-21.13.2) introduced by Warringah MP [Zali Steggall](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/representatives/warringah/zali_steggall) (Independent), which means it failed.
- [Standing order](https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/how-parliament-works/parliament-at-work/standing-orders/) are the usual procedural rules of parliament.
- ### Motion text
- > *That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the private Members' business order of the day relating to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Stopping PEP11) Bill 2021 standing in the name of the Member for Warringah being called on immediately and given priority over all other business for final determination of the House.*
<p class="italic">That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the private Members' business order of the day relating to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Stopping PEP11) Bill 2021 standing in the name of the Member for Warringah being called on immediately and given priority over all other business for final determination of the House.</p><p>This motion must be debated today because it deals with vital issues: climate change, environmental destruction and the fate of the economy for a significant portion of the east coast of Australia. Petroleum exploration permit 11, known as PEP-11, is a work permit granted under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006. PEP-11 covers some 4,575 square kilometres of ocean from Newcastle through the Central Coast to the iconic Manly Beach. PEP-11 comes as close as five kilometres to the shore in places. Human line of sight on the horizon is over five kilometres, so gas rigs may well be seen from our headlands and beaches. The titleholders, Advent Energy and Bounty NL, are permitted to explore for gas and oil in this area, with the aim of mining it and drilling it at a future date. Let's be clear: oil is often found alongside gas, so it is a very real prospect. This licence has been hanging over the heads of our local communities for too long.</p><p>I presented a petition to this parliament in February 2020 and have spoken numerous times in this place about the project. I have met with the Minister for Resources and Water, Minister Pitt. The community has written to and met with local MPs from both sides of the House. The New South Wales government rejected the licence last February—over a year ago. Yet Advent Energy called for tenders in June this year, issuing a tender for drilling and management services on 20 July and a letter of intent to award tenders on 14 October. As recently as 20 October, comments in the media by David Breeze, the executive director of Advent Energy, indicated that Advent has every intention to proceed with the project, dismissing concerns of local communities.</p><p>So here we are: PEP-11 is still on foot, and Minister Pitt, a Queensland Liberal-National MP, is still giving enough assurance to Advent Energy that they are seeking tenders for equipment to drill the works on PEP-11. In recent interviews it has been made clear that Advent Energy believe that the licence will be granted and extended. This raises serious concerns about who is making the decisions in this government.</p><p>This is the government's gas obsession taken to the extreme of endangering our local economies and coastline. Our local environment sustains our local economy, from coastal ecosystems, fishing, tourism and hospitality, our welfare and our health. We have seen, through the last 18 months with COVID, how important our local environment is. It has sustained us and we have been grateful, and now we urgently need to protect it. The area in and adjacent to PEP-11 is home to millions of people, a whale migration path and significant marine biodiversity. It's therefore absolutely in the public interest that this be dealt with without delay today.</p><p>With only 10 days before the conference of the parties at COP26, where global leaders will meet in Glasgow to discuss how we will mitigate the issue of our time—climate change and global warming—it is urgent that we debate a motion on a bill that will stop a major fossil fuel project. The Bureau of Meteorology has projected that on the current emissions trajectory Australia will surpass 4.4 degrees of warming in this century. We are set to reach 1.5 degrees of warming in the early 2030s. Australia will warm faster than the rest of the globe and will experience many more impacts—floods, fires, droughts and, for coastal communities, coastal erosion and cyclones. We are exposed. This is our greatest national security risk, and we are falling behind our allies in addressing it.</p><p>To avert this catastrophe, the International Energy Agency—one of the most conservative institutions—has stated that no new fossil fuel projects can be developed from this year. Yet here we are with a licence to open up gas off our coast. Oil and gas exploration risks contamination and pollution of the ocean. Our ocean is fragile and already under increasing threat from climate change and plastics pollution. We cannot and should not risk an oil spill from a drilling rig wrecking our ocean and waterways, which are some of the most unique in the world. Many will not forget the Deepwater Horizon spill that occurred in April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. Over a period of weeks it released almost 4.9 million barrels of oil into the ocean, making it the biggest oil calamity the world had ever seen. The spill extensively impacted the marine environment and did incalculable damage to the fishing and tourism industries that relied on the spill area. The areas adjacent to PEP-11 are just as exposed. Just two months ago, the world stood aghast when we saw an undersea gas pipeline leak and catch fire in the gulf yet again, literally setting the ocean alight. This is what can go wrong.</p><p>Make no mistake: undertaking oil and gas exploration risks disaster off our pristine coast. PEP-11 could devastate the environment and the economy of all areas adjacent to it. This is why this motion must be debated today, without delay, and this bill should be passed. We simply cannot allow it to proceed. The community is united in objecting to this project. We do not want it to proceed. Over 60,000 people lent their names to a petition calling for PEP-11 to be stopped. The community's wish is that PEP-11 be stopped today. I've had hundreds of emails from Warringah constituents and people up and down the coast. They're appalled that this project might still get the green light.</p><p>PEP-11 expired in February 2021, and yet it is still in force, pending the decision of Minister Pitt, as part of the joint authority, in relation to the application by the current titleholder. The first application for the suspension, extension and variation of PEP-11 was made to the joint authority some 289 days ago, and yet the New South Wales government was able to decline it in February 2020—and we are still here, waiting for a decision from the federal government. The delay in decision-making is causing considerable anxiety and distress in the communities affected by PEP-11.</p><p>This motion is to enable the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Stopping PEP11) Bill 2021 to be debated without further delay—and we should do this today. We need to act to remove the uncertainty and preclude any current and future development in the PEP-11 area. It is so important for our local communities. These communities have been battered and locked down under COVID. They need to rebuild. Our ecotourism, our tourism, our hospitality all need confidence and certainty, and having this risk hanging over them is impacting their confidence in the rebuild. It's vital that this licence be cancelled without further delay, and we must rule out any further licence being granted off our coast.</p><p>There are those who are claiming that some of the benefits of this licence will be to provide carbon capture and storage opportunities. Let's be really clear about what that is: it is a unicorn fantasy of this government that we can continue to emit and that somehow it won't matter because those rising emissions can be offset. It ignores the fact that we actually need to reduce emissions first. We can't continue the way we are. If carbon capture and storage can be developed to work then it might assist in capturing the excess that we have already put into the atmosphere, but it cannot be used to justify our continued dependence on fossil fuel. It doesn't replace the need to reduce emissions. It's already received substantial amounts of public funding to date, but let's be clear: it has failed to deliver. We cannot continue emitting in the hope that, magically, CCS will solve this problem—and I know the minister for energy is really attached to the idea that this unicorn solution will permit emissions to continue to rise. But, to protect our oceans and coastal economies and address climate change, we should deal with this bill today and we should pass this legislation.</p><p>To all those members in this place who have said that they are for climate action and who tell their constituents as much, will you now vote to debate this bill? Will you vote with your conscience? It is really important, because the time has come when communities are looking to their members of parliament for action. The actions you take on behalf of a collective, with impunity, do not excuse your personal actions. Your personal vote matters. The member for Wentworth, the member for Mackellar, the member for North Sydney and the member for Robertson have said to their communities that they oppose this project, and yet here we are: we are still in the hands of Minister Pitt. It's time to allow debate on this bill so that we can vote on it. This is a test for the government, and it's a test for those MPs. It is a test of their commitment to their communities up and down our coast.</p><p>The Prime Minister himself came to Collaroy Beach and said he opposes the project, and yet here we are: a project is still on foot, a permit holder is still proceeding, decisions are still being made and the licence is still going ahead. It begs the question: who is calling the shots in this government? If the Prime Minister has said he doesn't support this project, and yet Minister Pitt is still proceeding with it, it really begs the question: exactly who decides what is happening in this government? Who is deciding Australia's climate policy? Is there any genuine commitment to reducing emissions? These are the questions the Australian public is asking this parliament to understand how real the commitment is.</p><p>Today, this motion is a test. It is a test to see if there is a genuine desire to debate and to take action on legislation that will stop this project. We need to save our coast.</p> <p class="speaker">Rob Mitchell</p><p>Is the motion seconded?</p> <p class='motion-notice motion-notice-truncated'>Long debate text truncated.</p>-
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