Labor came to government on the back of a strong vote for real action on climate change, but now seem to be reneging on its promise to introduce stronger environment protection laws.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on September 2 that he is prepared to weaken the proposed new Environment Protection Australia (EPA) to get a deal with the Coalition.
Albanese, currently in Western Australia, told a media conference that may not have the power to approve or block mining developments.
Currently, : issue permits and licences; undertake compliance and enforcement activities; and undertake “undertaking delegated activities which may include assessments and decision-making about development proposals and approval conditions”.
Labor wants the Senate to pass its “Nature Positive Plan” — a redraft of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) — when parliament resumes next week.
Environment minister , telling the ABC on September 2, the change would be “something” for “everyone”.
Only a few months ago, in April, Plibersek’s op-ed for the pro-mining West Australian, sounded quite different.
She said Labor’s “Nature Positive Plan” would include an “independent national Environment Protection Agency with strong new powers and penalties to better protect and restore Australia’s unique environment”.
When introducing Labor’s , the second stage of its Nature Positive Plan, in May, it would be “a tough cop on the beat”. She said it would have the power to “issue ‘stop-work’ orders to prevent serious environmental damage and proactively audit business to ensure they’re doing the right thing”.
She said it would be able to “examine illegal land clearing and offset conditions as a priority” and impose bigger penalties “for serious financial offences”.
“Courts would also be able to impose fines of up to $780 million or send people to prison for up to seven years for extremely serious intentional breaches of federal environment law.”
The EPA would “have the capability and capacity to be a modern national environmental regulator” with new powers and penalties to restore “public accountability and trust”, consistent with the recommendations of the independent review of Australia’s environment law led by Professor Graeme Samuel.
The Samuel Review, first released in July 2020 under Scott Morrison’s Coalition government, “Australia’s natural environment and iconic places are in an overall state of decline and are under increasing threat” and that communities do “not trust the EPBC Act to deliver for the environment”.
It concluded that the EPBC required fundamental reform for future generations to be able to enjoy “Australia’s unique environment and iconic places and heritage”. It also called for “an interrelated and interdependent package of reforms” to “deliver greater environmental protections in the future”.
: Legally binding national environment standards that clearly spell out what is acceptable so that governments make decisions in line with these standards; new independent bodies, including new watchdogs and “assurance commissioner” to oversee governments’ performance; community being enabled to participate; improve First Nations-led reforms and participation in decision-making; an end to native forest logging; improved data and information systems; and no handing over of federal powers to the states unless they can meet the new environmental standards.
Despite 30,000 scientists, law experts and community members making submissions, Morrison ignored the Samuel Review, and ruled out setting up an independent watchdog.
that Labor would use the Samuel Review as its guide for reform of the national environmental law.
Fast forward two years and — with an election looming — Labor’s appears to be abandoning these promises to get its weakened bills through the Senate with Coalition support.
Glenn Walker, Head of Nature, Greenpeace Australia Pacific said on September 2 that he is “deeply alarmed” by reports that “Albanese is considering caving in to billionaire miners and greedy developers railing against environmental protection.
“Capitulating to vested interests by weakening the EPA and pushing off further critical law reform until next term would betray the promise to fix Australia's broken nature law. The outcome would be more forest and habitat destruction, more wildlife killed and a diminished natural environment.”
A Senate Committee report into is due for release on September 9, with the Senate expected to vote soon afterwards.