Senator BROWN(6.17 p.m.) —Senator Faulkner laughs, and I guess that is fair enough.

Senator Faulkner —No, I just said that, even for him, that was pathetic.

Senator BROWN —Absolutely. A certain supercilious note comes into his voice when he says there are other things to be taken into consideration. Like what? Like who has put the biggest funds into the Liberal Party's election campaign monies? Like which electorates they consider are marginal and therefore need to prop up with projects? Like which woodchip company has the best contacts with the minister's office? Like which mining corporation wants to get out of having to do its proper duty and clean up the mess it has left, wherever it might be? What the minister is saying is, `Trust me.' Well I don't, and the further he dismisses any attempt in here at accountability, the less I am inclined to do so.

Both the opposition and the Democrats are right: the principles of ecologically sustainable development should be taken into consideration and should be paramount and definitive. We should not have them counterbalanced by a clause which says `such other matters as the minister considers relevant', because he has already made it clear in here that, if there is an economic interest at stake against an environmental interest, he will let the environment go down the gurgler. His own actions outside the ambit of this particular legislation demonstrably show that he will put the environment second every time. In fact, in his representations in cabinet, he does not have the environment at the top of his priorities. It will come in a bad second if he is given a chance.

So I totally support this amendment from the opposition. It cannot do more than restrict the minister, if it were successful, to adopting the principles of ecologically sustainable development. Well, we might say, `Does he understand what that means?' Yes, he does. He absolutely understands what that means. But we might then say, `Well, is he going to faithfully implement the principles of ecologically sustainable development in the disbursement of this fund?' The answer to that is, no, he will not, because he does not have it in his make-up to stand up and properly defend the environment and ecologically sustainable development either in disbursement of this fund or in carrying out the rest of his very important environmental responsibilities.

Of course he is going to oppose this move, to allow himself free rein to do what he likes as far as allocating this money and of course Senator Harradine is going to support that free rein given to the minister.