Mr. Justin Moran:

I thank the Senator. Our position has been and continues to be that we need a marine protected areas Bill. That is where we are at the moment. We have seen the announcement the Government is looking at another option and we are approaching that with an open mind because we want to see whether that option can deliver something as robust as the MPA Bill. If it is quicker, it might give us a better indication and more certainty. Mr. Cunniffe mentioned it already but one of the key issues for us is delivery of the national offshore renewable energy, ORE, DMAP on time by the end of 2027. It would be really helpful to know possible protected areas to factor that into the development of that DMAP. If the best and quickest way to do that is a marine protected areas Bill, we should do that. If there is another way to do it which would deliver it even more quickly and at the same level of robustness, we would look at that with an open mind.