Senator BROWN (10:05 AM) —It is the minister who has not done his homework. He hasn't got the foggiest. It is not good enough in a committee dealing with an important matter like this. The chamber has the right to be informed on the thrust and the impact on the environment of this proposed development which, just last night, the minister was telling us did not exist. We know it does. We now know that there is an environmental impact assessment, and the minister cannot give a summary of that to the committee. One has to see from that that the minister did not know that an environmental impact statement had been done and now he does not know what is in it. I see that he is getting advice on it.

Nevertheless, I ask him to explain to the committee whether there are any concerns expressed in that environmental impact statement about the impact of this development because it is very important. We are dealing here with the ratification of the agreement which will allow the development to proceed. It is the minister's job to inform the committee so that it can be sure that it is doing the right thing. You cannot do that if there is information relating to the environment in a 50-page statement—obviously a lot of work has gone into that—and the minister cannot inform the committee about any concerns that arise out of that environmental impact assessment.

I ask the minister to give us that information so that we can proceed from a point of being informed. It is a very serious matter. If the minister will not give it to us, the committee need to have time to look at the statement. I ask that the committee return to this at a later hour so that we have time to appraise this environmental impact assessment statement ourselves. I move:

Question negatived.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN (Senator Sandy Macdonald)—The question is that the bill stand as printed.