QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator WATT (Queensland—Minister for the Environment and Water) (14:45): Senator Hanson, you might not care about the Great Barrier Reef and the 77,000 jobs in Australia that rely on it and the $9 billion in economic turnover that it produces every year, but Labor certainly does. We want to hang on to those jobs that are in Cairns, in Townsville, in Mackay, in Airlie Beach, even in Gladstone and as far south as Bundaberg.

We want to protect those jobs, and one of the ways that we're doing it is by requiring regulation of land clearing that occurs in the Great Barrier Reef catchment. Again, we saw Senator Canavan be very upset about Senator Hanson beating him to the punch on this question. The problem for Senator Canavan is that, for the last few years, he, more than anyone, has enabled Senator Hanson and now he's paying the price.

The PRESIDENT: Minister, have you concluded your answer? Senator WATT: Just a little bit more—four seconds should be enough. Senator Hanson, we will stand up for farmers, agriculture and the Great Barrier Reef.

(Time expired)