QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Mr BOWEN (McMahon—Minister for Climate Change and Energy) (14:27): I thank the member for Bradfield for the question. It goes to a few issues. It goes to the High Court case, it goes to environmental approval and it goes to action on climate change.
If I start with the High Court case first of all, the court case does not relate to a Commonwealth decision. The court case was made quite specifically with respect to New South Wales law. All federal decisions on environmental approvals are made under the EPBC Act, under federal environmental law, so the Commonwealth case doesn't have a bearing on the legality of decisions that are made under federal environmental law.
Secondly, as sometimes happens in questions in this place, there's a merging of environmental approvals with the decisions we take on action on climate change, and we use quite different mechanisms, as this parliament has decided to do so and as the member knows. In terms of action on climate change, that's where we use the safeguard mechanism. That's what we've been using to be able to deliver significant outcomes in terms of action on climate change.
When it comes to environmental approvals, when the minister works through environmental approvals, the minister has very specific issues to take into account. They're all based on international treaties, largely the powers that are in the EPBC Act, but they are separate to the mechanisms that we deal with with respect to climate change. My understanding is that Hunter Valley Operations have proposed an extension.
It's an extension to existing mines in previously mined areas. The New South Wales Independent Planning Commission has already given its approval with strict conditions. The state approval does not pre-empt a federal approval; they're separate processes.
The National Environmental Protection Agency—I'm very proud to say we now have an EPA; we now have a federal EPA—is currently considering the project and whether it should be approved under federal law. All public submissions and advice from the Independent Expert Scientific Committee will be taken into account before a final decision is made. And, as I'm sure the member would appreciate, while the matter remains under consideration, it's not appropriate for me to comment further.