THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
ABC NEWS BREAKFAST
WEDNESDAY, 6 DECEMBER 2023
SUBJECTS: PREVENTATIVE DETENTION; NATURE REPAIR MARKET.
LISA MILLAR, HOST: Joining us now is Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek. Good morning to you, Minister. I am very aware that you've had important things happening in your own portfolio and we are going to talk about that. But I need to start with this breaking news, really this morning. Can you confirm that the process now for the passage of the legislation, it went through the Senate yesterday, what happens next?
TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Well, we want the support of the Liberals and the Nationals and the crossbench in the House of Representatives to pass these laws. We know that the Liberals and the Nationals teamed up with the Greens last week to oppose laws that would have made it a criminal offence for people who'd been released from immigration detention, who had concerns about their behaviour to go near schools or to contact their victims or victims' families. It was extraordinary to see the Coalition team up with the Greens to vote against those laws this week. We were very pleased to see new laws based on high-risk terrorism offenders passed through the Senate yesterday and we're very keen to see them pass through the House of Representatives as quickly as possible so that we can have the power to recommend to courts that they take people who have been sex offenders or violent offenders in the past off the streets.
MILLAR: It wasn't intended for today to be a sitting where the legislation might be discussed. Will it go to the House of Representatives today? Is that the plan now?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: We expect it to go today.
MILLAR: Right. So, there is a sense that this is being rushed. All of it is being rushed, as the Opposition claims, because the government was left on the back foot.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, hang on a minute. We're acting expeditiously because there is a risk to the Australian community. I think it's extraordinary to criticise that. We've also from day one --
MILLAR: I'm not criticising it. That's the criticism coming from the Opposition and Adam Bandt, yeah.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: No no no, I don't mean you. I don't mean you, I mean the Opposition. We've also, of course, from day one had Australian Border Force and the Australian Federal Police working together. We've committed an extra $255 million to give them the resources they need to keep Australians safe. From day one, we have been working to make sure that any risk to the Australian community is dealt with.
MILLAR: Are Australians safe at the moment, then?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, we were very disappointed to see laws that would have kept Australians safer voted against last week by Peter Dutton teaming up with the Greens, and that was very disappointing. He has the opportunity today to vote for laws that will keep Australians safer. We'll see.
MILLAR: Do people have a right to know where these detainees are? Do we have a right to know what their convictions might have been, which was something that the government wanted to put through?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I think it's important to know what the government is doing to keep Australians safe. And what we're doing is making sure we've got stronger laws modelled on our terrorism laws. In the past, they've had bipartisan support. This allows a court to say that someone who is a risk of future violent or sexual offending can be kept detained to keep Australians safer. That's what we're proposing.
MILLAR: Could these laws end up being challenged again, as some in the legal fraternity have suggested?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, the reason that the laws are based on the high-risk terrorism offender laws is because that minimises the risk of legal challenge. These laws in the past have had bipartisan support. We have seen people detained under those laws and we believe, because of the design now, with the court making the final decision, that these laws are strong and won't be challenged.
MILLAR: Adam Bandt says you're in a race to the bottom with the Opposition.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, Adam Bandt's teaming up with Peter Dutton to vote against people who've had concerns about their behaviour, approaching schools or contacting their victims or their victims' families, so I don't know. A very strange teaming up there.
MILLAR: On the nature repair bill in your portfolio. Another piece of legislation that did get through and with some help from the Greens. What difference is this going to make to landholders, to farmers?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: This is a great opportunity for landholders, for farmers, for traditional owners to be paid to restore and protect nature on their properties. So, the sort of projects we could see are farmers who've got remnant rainforest on their land, being paid to keep the goats out, to keep the weeds out, traditional owners in central Australia doing cultural burning and reintroducing animals like the Mala onto their properties. We want to see a range of projects come forward. We expect strong interest from philanthropists and from the business community wanting to invest, to protect and restore nature across Australia. We've got a target of protecting 30 per cent of our land and 30 per cent of our waters by 2030. But it's not just setting land aside. We actually need to care for that land. And this gives private individuals, private landholders, like farmers, like traditional owners, the opportunity to be paid to do that work.
MILLAR: Tanya Plibersek, thank you for joining us this morning.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Thank you.
END
