STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator BROCKMAN (Western Australia—Deputy President and Chair of Committees) (13:36): Congratulations, Madam Acting Deputy President Stewart, on the new role! Keep your hands off our gas, Canberra. Keep your hands off our gas, Labor.

The Western Australian gas industry is an enormous success for a story not just for Western Australia but for this country and for so many of our geopolitical strategic partners overseas. Be it Japan or South Korea or Taiwan, these countries rely on our gas to ensure their own economic and industrial security. The Browse project alone will see $30 billion of investment in my home state of Western Australia, helping to keep the lights on not just here but around the world.

To our political partners overseas, this is a vital investment and one that should not be threatened by federal Labor's gas reservation policy. It might sound as though Labor won't interfere when they talk about a ministerial discretion that will be used to carve out Western Australia. But the trouble with that is that you cannot trust this Labor government.

They have promised so many things before, and then it's, 'Oops, we've changed our minds.' So, what's to stop a new minister? Let's say Minister Bowen were given the resources portfolio. Who would trust him for one moment not to interfere with the Western Australian gas industry?

Labor cannot be trusted with the WA gas industry. Keep your hands off our gas.