QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator WATT (Queensland—Minister for the Environment and Water) (14:31): Senator Hanson-Young asks me what the government is doing around the clearing of habitat, and Senator Hanson-Young must not remember that, only about six months ago, the Greens political party supported legislation that the government passed for environmental law reform. One of the key aspects of that legislation was to ensure that habitat is protected for threatened species and others.

The PRESIDENT: Senator Hanson-Young? Senator Hanson-Young: Thank you, President. Bring the minister back to the question.

Maybe I needed to be more specific. What are you doing to stop the clearing of Alcoa? The PRESIDENT: Senator Hanson-Young, I have warned you before about using points of order to make political statements.

You are out of order. The minister is responding to your question, and I invite the minister to continue. Senator WATT: As I was saying, it wasn't that long ago that the Greens party, including Senator Hanson-Young, Senator Waters and everyone else sitting around them, supported legislation that this government passed through this Senate—the most far-reaching environmental law reform that Australia has seen for 25 years and that delivers a balanced package of stronger protections for our environment and also faster and simpler assessment and approval processes that will deliver the habitat protection that our threatened species deserve.

In the meantime, we're not going to be doing political grandstanding— Senator Hanson-Young interjecting— Senator WATT: like certain people who are yelling out over there; we're going to get on with the job of making sure we keep our species safe. (Time expired)