Thursday, 19 March 2020

Onshore conventional gas

Mr R SMITH (Warrandyte) (11:31): My question is to the Premier. Industry has been calling for a lifting of the moratorium on onshore natural gas to reduce prices and protect Victorian jobs. Given that Victoria is facing a job crisis, why has the Premier delayed lifting the moratorium on onshore conventional gas by another 12 months?

Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (11:32): I thank the member for Warrandyte for his question. The advice of the experts is—and I think common sense would tell you as well—that the prospects of a project between now and the middle of next year actually producing gas are very, very limited. So that is the first point.

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: Well, again I am asked to make that terribly difficult choice between the views of those opposite and experts, and on this matter and all matters it is not such a difficult choice at all. The experts have been very clear that there are some deficiencies in our regulations, there are some deficiencies in our processes and we need to—

Members interjecting.

Mr ANDREWS: Well, no, what we have had is a science-led process, not a Peter Reith-led process. They are two very different things. That again is something that is lost on them as well—that apparently his lordship Peter Reith, the all-knowing, is a scientist. No, he is not. Peter Reith or Amanda Caples? Easy choice. Fracking, no; conventional gas, yes. Easy choice. Confusion and inconsistency versus evidence and policy that grows jobs and supports a balance in our energy sector—again, easy choice. I will not go on to go any further about choices that are obvious and easy. That would not be right. But I would just say to the member for Warrandyte: do not wait for anyone on this side of the house and the considerable numbers that sit on that side of the house to ever take advice from you.

Mr R SMITH (Warrandyte) (11:34): Very excited! On a supplementary question, lifting the moratorium immediately is a very simple measure that your government could implement that would protect Victorian jobs and cost nothing. Why is the Premier so pig-headed that he would not admit that he has got this wrong and lift the moratorium on exploration and development immediately?

The SPEAKER: Order! I am going to ask the member to rephrase that question without the use of an unparliamentary reference to another member.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member can rephrase the question.

Mr T Smith: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier spent the last 10 seconds of his answer abusing the member for Warrandyte, and I think you are showing a certain level of double standard with regard to asking the member for Warrandyte to rephrase his question. You have not had a good morning, Speaker. I would ask you to reflect on your ruling.

The SPEAKER: Order! I thank the member for Kew for his counsel, and he can leave the chamber for 1 hour for reflecting on the Chair.

Member for Kew withdrew from chamber.

The SPEAKER: Member for Warrandyte, is there a point of order?

Mr R SMITH: No, I am just not sure what word you are meaning.

The SPEAKER: The member for Warrandyte has got a choice. He can re-ask the question or there will not be a question.

Members interjecting.

Mr R SMITH: Which one is it?

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the House will come to order.

Mr R SMITH: Because they are all factual words.

The SPEAKER: Does the member for Warrandyte have a question?

Mr R SMITH: Yes, I do.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Warrandyte to ask his question.

Mr R SMITH: Lifting the moratorium immediately is a very simple measure that your government could implement that would protect Victorian jobs and would cost nothing. Why is the Premier so stubborn that he would not admit that he got this wrong and lift the moratorium on exploration and development immediately?

Mr ANDREWS (Mulgrave—Premier) (11:36): Speaker, whilst I am grateful for the abundant protection you have afforded me, let me assure you I have been called worse by better. I do not think the member for—

A member interjected.

Mr ANDREWS: Well, you just keep running those marginal seats—

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! Through the Chair!

Mr ANDREWS: Long may that continue.

The SPEAKER: Order! There is a serious question that has been asked, and I do ask the Premier to come to answering the question.

Mr ANDREWS: As I was saying, long may that continue. And I did not think the Greens had a question today. It seems they do. The member for Warrandyte must not have been listening to my principal answer. I have covered this matter. The time that is necessary, on the advice of the experts, to get this right—and of course the simple fact that it is highly unlikely, indeed probably not possible, for there to be extraction in the next 12 months—means that no time is being lost whatsoever.

Mr R Smith: On a point of order, Speaker, the moratorium is on exploration as well as development, as the Premier well knows. So the Premier can answer the question with regard to lifting the moratorium on exploration, which could begin immediately.

The SPEAKER: Order! A point of order is not an opportunity to debate the answer.

Mr ANDREWS: You cannot rewrite the supplementary again. The—

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The house will come to order.

Mr ANDREWS: Experts or the member for Warrandyte? A very easy choice.

Mr Walsh: On a point of order, Speaker, I would ask you to reflect on your rulings during that question and the points of order that were taken. You threw out the member for Kew for making a comment. The Deputy Premier has been constantly interjecting and making comments while you have been making rulings. I would ask you to reflect on actually being fair to both sides of the house in the rulings that you make.

The SPEAKER: Order! I appreciate the way in which the Leader of The Nationals has raised that point of order. The member for Kew was removed for reflecting directly on the Chair, not for a comment that he made across the table. And I do ask all members on both sides, particularly those at the table, to refrain from interjecting while members are on their feet.