Waters, Sen Larissa

Senator WATERS (Queensland—Co-Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens) (10:28): With the jubilation of us succeeding in having a Greens bill passed, you will forgive us for the short delay. I rise with pleasure to speak on the Environment and Infrastructure Legislation Amendment (Stop Adani) Bill 2017, which has been introduced by the Greens, which hopefully passes like the last bill did. This bill is an important bill because it does two things. It would insert into the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility Act a test that says that we need to check a person's corporate environmental history to see if they are in fact a fit and proper person to be receiving taxpayer money. You might think that, for a $5 billion slush fund, there would already be such a test in the act and that we would already check whether someone was a fit and proper corporate person to receive free concessional mates rates loans using taxpayer money, but, unbelievably, there is no such test in the NAIF Act at the moment. So this bill would insert such a test. The second aspect of this bill would be to require, under our environmental laws, a review of the approvals already given to the Adani group of companies for their Carmichael mine. The reason for this is the appalling track record of environmental breaches and also of allegations of fraud, corruption, money laundering and the use of tax havens which has come to light since those approvals have been issued. This bill would not only clarify that the environmental history of someone who wants to get environmental approval needs to be looked at before approval is given; it would also specifically trigger a review of the Adani approvals already issued, supported by both sides of politics, to take into account the litany of dodgy practices that has come to light since those approvals have been issued. So this bill would make sure that the Australian government cannot simply hand out $1 billion to Adani without actually checking whether they are a suitable person— Senator Ian Macdonald: Nobody checked if you're a suitable person for the Senate. Senator WATERS: and ensure that investigations against members of the Adani corporate group for fraud, for money laundering, for tax minimisation and for corruption would be undertaken and that there would be mandatory consultation with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, ASIC, and with the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. This is a crucial bill because it goes to the integrity of our approval system and it goes to the level of scrutiny that the government undertakes when giving out taxpayer dollars. This bill is also an important next step in the campaign to stop Adani opening up the world's largest coalmine right when we have just lost half of the coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef, in the largest bleaching, with the highest mortality, that the reef has ever seen in its ancient history. It is really clear to us, on examination by many other experts, including lawyers from Environment Justice Australia, that this company is a dodgy company pushing an environmentally and economically destructive project. The Adani mine is the best example of the way in which the big parties—both of them, sadly—are working for big corporations rather than for citizens. Senator Ian Macdonald interjecting— Senator WATERS: Australians know that our political system is broken and that our economic system is rigged against everyday people, and that same system lets greedy bankers rip off everyday people with the full protection of politicians. Senator Ian Macdonald interjecting— Senator WATERS: Mr Acting Deputy President, I am so over the interjections by Senator Ian Macdonald, who does this routinely when I am on my feet and when other female senators are on their feet. I ask you to call him to order and, if he will not desist, I ask you to eject him from the chamber. I have had six years of Senator Macdonald and I have had enough. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Leyonhjelm ): I remind senators that interjections are disorderly. Please allow speakers to be heard in silence. Senator WATERS: Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. As I was saying, this is the same system that is stacked against everyday citizens and it has seen Adani receive unlimited groundwater from the Queensland state Labor government. Ninety per cent of our state is in drought and this multinational company is now allowed to have free unlimited groundwater thanks to— Senator Ian Macdonald: Lie. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Macdonald, I ask you to withdraw. Senator Ian Macdonald: I thought the senator stopped to allow me to make my contribution. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: She stopped because of you, Senator Macdonald. The word 'lie' is unparliamentary. I invite you to withdraw it. Senator Ian Macdonald: I withdraw. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Macdonald, I note that you are next on the speaking list. Perhaps you could reserve your comments until your turn arises and allow Senator Waters to continue. Senator Ian Macdonald: Mr Acting Deputy President, I know you will give me the same protection—it is never afforded me, but it does not matter. I am big enough to be able to handle it. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: While I am in the chair, you can rely on my support. Senator WATERS: Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President, for enforcing the rules. As we know, this system that lets property developers steamroll over local residents is the same system where it looks like $1 billion in public money will be handed over to this multinational mining company. This, of course, is the same system that lets political donations influence policy outcomes and locks out the community. Adani, the banks, the insurance companies and the big end of town, who have made the donations and got the well-paid lobbyists and well-connected former politicians, are all part of this system. On the other side, we have people power and this growing and broadening campaign to stop the world's largest coalmine being facilitated with public money, handouts, free groundwater and a royalties holiday of almost one-quarter of a billion dollars. The people power against this perfect example of how the system works for vested corporate interests is growing, and I am confident that we will succeed because not only is the global coal market diminishing—we have seen the price now in such decline that economic commentators are calling it structural decline—but we have just seen the death of half of the Great Barrier Reef. So it is clear that the economics of this project will not stack up. That is why the company has got its hand out for a $1 billion mates rates loan from the federal taxpayer. It is clear that the environmentals of this project would be absolutely disastrous not only for our reef but for our broader environment and for our very way of life. We have already seen the havoc that extreme weather events wreak upon all of our states, and in particular Queensland with more intense cyclones. We have seen the ravage of bushfires become more intense and more frequent around the country. We cannot go sleepwalking into climate change any longer. We know the impacts that it is having. We know what is coming down the line if we continue to fuel this dangerous and systemic problem. Yet we have both sides of politics, who have received $3.7 million in donations from fossil fuel companies over the last 10 years—including from the Adani group of companies—championing this enormous coalmine right when the rest of the world is taking climate change seriously, pledging to cut emissions and making that transition to clean renewable energy, which not only keeps the lights on but actually generates more jobs. This is why I fail to see the logic of both big parties backing this project when we have so many more clean, long-lasting, job-creating opportunities in clean energy not just nationally but in Queensland, and not just in Queensland but in the very region where this mine is proposed. In the pipeline of projects that are funded already, and are rolling out as we speak, are 3,200 jobs. They are in large-scale wind and solar in the region where the big parties would support Adani opening up the largest coalmine. This coalmine will not generate the 10,000 jobs that the company initially bragged about. They had to eat their own words and say, 'In fact, no, it will only be 1,464 jobs.' So double the number of jobs can be created in clean energy projects in that very same region of Queensland that actually have funding and that are going to happen and are going to proceed. So why are both of the big parties still wanting to throw federal taxpayer money behind such a destructive project? Well, it is the donations, isn't it? There is no other reason for it. The $3.7 million of donations from the fossil fuel sector, including from the Adani companies, to both sides of politics must be what is driving this decision—because there is no other good reason that they would back this project. It is a climate-destroying project that does not generate anywhere near the number of jobs that clean energy does and it has black lung disease associated with the jobs that it may or may not generate. We have seen in Queensland in the last couple of years the resurgence of pneumoconiosis, black lung disease, which is an extremely dangerous disease. I was at a briefing by the Lung Foundation Australia that perhaps Senator Macdonald, rather than chortling, should have been at to increase his awareness of this pernicious disease. It is atrocious that we are abrogating our occupational health and safety duties to our workers—our right to keep these workers safe at work—and sending them into coalmines without appropriate protection and dust suppression techniques. These are toxic, dirty jobs that are hurting the health of workers. They are jobs that are already being shed as the industry transforms and as global economics puts coal in the waste bin of history and transitions to clean, green, sustainable and long-lasting energy. Again, there can be no reason why this project is receiving the support that it is from both of the big parties except for the donations and a system that lets vested interests pay money and get the outcomes that they want. But what I want to particularly focus on today is the reason that this bill is so important. This bill would say, 'Let's have a look at the corporate environmental history and the corporate tax history of companies before we give them public money.' This is an eminently reasonable position and it is one that I hope will receive support from both sides of this chamber. What I will do now is go through the litany of examples of highly inappropriate corporate conduct by the Adani Group of companies and ask both sides of politics: do you really want to give this company a billion dollars in a mates rates concessional loan, after the Queensland government has just given them free groundwater and a quarter of a billion dollars of a royalty holiday on the coal that they will dig out which, when burned, will worsen the climate for all of us and probably write the death warrant of the Great Barrier Reef? The list is long, so I will use my time to read it into the record. In August 2016, the Adani Group was fined nearly $1 million in India's specialised environment court for its role in chartering an unseaworthy ship to transport coal. That was the sinking of a coal ship in Indian waters, for which they were fined. The Indian government's Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, or DRI, is currently investigating a number of the Adani Group entities, including Adani Enterprises Ltd, which is the ultimate holding company of the Adani Mining group—the proponents of the Carmichael mine—for illegally overvaluing imports of coal and capital equipment in order to siphon funds offshore, a practice that creates what is called 'black money'. There are now investigations into fraud and trade based money-laundering. There are two separate investigations into allegations of trade based money-laundering by the Adani companies. The first investigation is into the fraudulent invoicing of coal imports and the other is into a scam involving false invoicing for capital equipment imports. The list goes on. In January 2016, the National Green Tribunal fined Adani Hazira Port Private Ltd, which is a subsidiary of one of the Adani companies, almost $5 million for undertaking development works at a port in Hajira without an environmental permit. The tribunal found that those works destroyed mangroves and impeded the fishing activities of local communities by interfering with their access to the river and the ocean. So they were fined for not following environmental guidelines in building a port, and we have just given them operation of the limb of the North Queensland Bulk Ports at Abbot Point, to do, potentially, exactly the same thing, with no guarantee that they will respect the conditions that our government have put on that permission. In 2011, after a three-year investigation, the ombudsman of the Indian state of Karnataka found AEL to have been actively involved in large‐scale illegal export of iron ore. In 2015, in considering whether to approve the Carmichael mine, the federal environment department asked Adani Mining for the environmental history of its executive officers, and, in its response, Adani Mining failed to disclose that one of its directors and the CEO of the Adani Group's operations in Australia was previously an executive officer of an unrelated company when that company caused serious water pollution in Zambia. That company later pleaded guilty to criminal charges for the pollution and for its failure to report the incident. But Adani did not think that was worth telling the environment department, even though they had asked. On tax-dodging, an analysis of company filings shows that up to $3 billion from Adani's planned Carmichael coalmine would be shifted to a subsidiary owned in the Cayman Islands, if the controversial project goes ahead. An overarching royalty deed gives a shell company the rights to receive a payment of $2 a tonne, rising yearly by the inflation rate, beyond the 400,000 tonnes mined each production year for two decades. The company with this entitlement is ultimately owned by an entity registered in the Caymans, controlled by the Adani family. In plain English, the upshot is that if the mine goes ahead they receive a $2-a-tonne payment—so, up to $3 billion—via a company they own in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven. These are just some of the revelations that have come to light after some fairly basic research was undertaken by a variety of organisations, including Environmental Justice Australia, in Victoria—just a few examples of the allegations of tax fraud, bribery, corruption and clear environmental breaches by Adani and various companies in the group. Why do we still not have a test in our laws that says we will consider the history of someone that is putting their hand up for a mates rates concessional loan? Why would this government and the opposition willingly turn a blind eye to the suitability of the recipient of a very large concessional loan—$1 billion of public, or taxpayer, money? Why would they not want to look and see this? And this is probably just the tip of the iceberg. This is what has been uncovered by some basic research. There are whole departments here that could, if their powers were clarified, be looking into these issues. That is why this bill is so important. Not only does it say we have to look at these issues under the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, the $5 billion that Adani wants a billion of; but in our environmental laws we should look properly at this. We should look at the corporate environmental history and look behind that corporate veil to see the real record of the people involved in these companies and the companies themselves before we decide if we are going to give them environmental permission to build the world's largest coalmine and to ship it through the Great Barrier Reef. We have had so many near-misses in the reef and we have already had some very big accidents, including with coal ships. Do we really want a company that has shown a disrespect for environmental laws in other jurisdictions trusted with the future of the Great Barrier Reef and, not only that, to build the world's largest coalmine that, when its coal is burnt, will see the end of the reef? That is what the scientists are saying. Senator O'Sullivan: That's what it's all about. Senator WATERS: That is what it is all about. I will take that interjection because that is exactly what the scientists are saying. I do not know why this side cannot accept the scientific evidence. It is because they are blinded by the coal donations. That must be the only reason. I have a science degree. It is not rocket scientist, and the scientists are speaking in plain English. Senator Ian Macdonald interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Smith ): Order! Senators are entitled to be heard in silence. Senator Waters. Senator WATERS: Thanks very much. We are used to the interjections from the elderly gentlemen on this side who perhaps need to reflect on their own conduct in this chamber. Senator Ian Macdonald interjecting— Senator WATERS: Oh, are you going to object to being called elderly? It could have been a lot worse. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Macdonald, do you have a point of order? Senator Ian Macdonald: Mr Acting Deputy President, if you mention something about Senator Waters being a woman, you have all hell break loose in this chamber. She feels that she can insult people—or thinks she is. I am proud to be old and I have lived a long time that you will not, Senator. I have been in this place a long time that you will not. I ask you, Mr Acting Deputy President, to moderate her language, and while I am at it— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: No, what is your point of order? Senator Ian Macdonald: My point of order is this senator is accusing me and my colleagues of bribery and corruption, which she knows is not correct. She spent her whole speech doing this, and yet she goes unchallenged. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: That is not a point of order. Resume your seat. Senator Waters, you have the call. Senator WATERS: Thanks. It is pretty clear they have not been listening to what I am saying, but I am used to that, so it does not bother me. Unfortunately, they are not listening to the scientists either. If they were then we might see a different outcome. Anyway, as I was saying, the litany of corporate environmental breaches and financial law breaches of this company should be raising red flags to anyone in this chamber irrespective of whether they have been receiving donations from that company or other in the fossil fuels sector. This should not simply be a tick and flick for a billion-dollar mates-rates concessional loan to a company with such a concerning history. It is very interesting that the senators on my left are so intent on protecting this multinational coal company. It is very interesting indeed because, again, we have lost half of the reef, coal is on the decline globally, coal workers black lung disease is on the rise and there are more jobs in clean, renewable energy in Australia and in particular in this region of Queensland that stand to be made. So I ask the senators to reflect on the changing nature of world economics and on the amazing technological developments that have happened in the last 10 years in renewable energy. I ask them to desist with their ideological war against climate scientists and reef scientists and to see that this could be economically beneficial as well as beneficial for our environment and for our own very safety and way of life. But we will see who has more patience in that regard. The other important aspect of this Adani campaign is, of course, the rights of traditional owners, and I was exceedingly dismayed this week when their native title rights were in part restricted with the passage of laws that will retrospectively validate an ILUA. The Wangan and Jagalingou people oppose this mine. They are concerned at the environmental history of the company that would propose to build a large coalmine on their land. I am proud to stand with them and to voice their concerns. They are of course before the Federal Court, and I imagine that they will be successful. Whilst this government has tried to fix the native title issues, as the Prime Minister promised Mr Adani on his visit to India that he would do, it is really clear that there are multiple limbs to this litigation, and that the Wangan and Jagalingou people will not be subjugated and are proud advocates for the integrity of their ancestral land. In summary, I look forward to the support for this bill because, really, who could argue against simply checking the corporate environmental record of a company before giving them a billion-dollar mate's rate loan? No-one could argue against that so I really look forward to the contributions from my fellow colleagues supporting this sensible and rational bill, which would also have the outcome of stopping Adani getting public money and stopping this coalmine from going ahead.