Greens leader Larissa Waters has attacked the government’s upcoming environmental reforms saying they are not fit for purpose, as she claimed Labor had capitulated to business interests.
“These are not laws for nature. These reforms are long overdue, but what we’ve seen from the environment minister is literally a blank cheque for the big mining companies and the big logging companies and big business generally. And that’s not what people voted for, and that’s not what these laws need,” Waters told ABC Radio National this morning.
Contentious legislation to update the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act is expected to be introduced this week, but the government faces a significant challenge in its need to negotiate with either the Greens or the Coalition in the Senate. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has suggested the legislation, which she described as a “handbrake” to business, be split.
Greens leader Larissa Waters. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Environment Minister Murray Watt has rejected the suggestion.
The legislation would see the creation of a new regulator, the National Environment Protection Agency, however it would allow the minister to overrule the body if it deemed major projects to be in the national interest.
“The laws themselves … they’re already riddled with loopholes. But rather than fix those loopholes, the proposal by this environment minister under this government is to add additional loopholes and yet more fast track mechanisms for coal and gas. And just yesterday, in question time, when we again asked the minister to rule out fast tracking for coal and gas, he wouldn’t do it. We keep giving him opportunities to say, ‘I won’t use this for coal and gas’, and he keeps refusing to take those opportunities,” Waters said.
“It is perfectly clear that these laws have been written for big business. It’s no wonder that the Chevrons and Woodsides and BHPs of the world are really happy with what they’re seeing. This is just a fast track to big business trashing nature, and there’s no protection for forests, there’s no protection for climate, and it’s just a free pass for big business. This is really worrying stuff,” Waters said.