While Sussan ‘Sideshow’ Ley took Anthony Albanese to task for wearing a Joy Division T-shirt last week, the real work of government went on, with Labor both federally and in NSW making it easier for corporations to destroy the natural world for profit, while pretending to do the complete opposite.
Environment Minister Murray Watt claims to have been besieged by people anxious for Labor to pass its proposed overhauls to the national environment laws, saying ‘What I’ve heard more than anything else is that Australians want the environment protected for future generations to enjoy.’
Unfortunately Labor’s proposed changes do nothing of the sort. Returning major development approval powers to state governments is a win for developers and their lobbyists, not koalas and other threatened species.
This is actually something that was mooted by Coalition environment ministers in the past, and the idea hasn’t improved with age.
Reform is needed, but…
The legal strategies underpinning previous environmental wins using the existing EPBC Act, such as Toondah Harbour, Traveston Dam and James Price Point, would become impossible if these changes go through.
Minister Watt is also proposing to return the ‘water trigger’ to state governments, where it will be safely locked in the bottom drawer in most cases, accelerating coal mining, gas fracking and other practices destructive to water on a massive scale.
Local communities and Traditional Owners will be entirely sidelined by the proposed legislative changes, which were not tested with the wider electorate in the last election. States which are particularly vulnerable to corruption and the influence of lobbyists (NT, Queensland, WA and NSW) are likely to be hardest hit.
The government is currently on a hearts and minds selling spree of its new laws with the Australian public, but the actual negotiations (mainly with the big corporations who will benefit, in many cases) have already concluded.
The strategy for Labor is to recycle what worked for them in the past, casting the Greens and anyone else who has an issue with these reforms as ‘blockers’. And this is coming from a government which has the numbers to create genuine, positive environmental reforms.
What would Gough Whitlam say?
Meanwhile in NSW
Labor Premier Chris Minns is threatening to compulsorily acquire properties owned by landholders who oppose Santos’ Hunter Gas Pipeline.
Farmers and other people who have spent decades and dollars fighting this scheme are now to be literally walked over in the interests of a corporation which has never negotiated with most of the landholders concerned, or acknowledged the risks.
As Liverpool Plains farmer John Hamparsum said, ‘It makes me angry to see the state government rubber stamping something just because they want it to go ahead…
‘Chris Minns is putting the cart before the horse – he’s not following due process and it’s his own government’s process, it’s the law.’
Bear in mind that this is a man who has been forced to spend years (successfully) fighting off the Shenhua coal mine near his farm, and is now having to deal with this new domestic threat, instead of growing the food and fibre we all need.
The company involved, Santos, has been frantically exporting Australia’s gas as fast as possible, causing shortages and price hikes. They were recently revealed to be responsible for massive methane leaks from their export terminal in Darwin. They were also involved with the mud volcano catastrophe in Sidoarjo, East Java, which devastated many lives.
If Minns has his way, Santos will now be entrusted with a pipeline and new gasfields in the Pilliga Forest which will inevitably spread throughout the surrounding area, including some of the state’s most productive farmland. The end result will be short term profits for the few, and destructive climate change for everyone else.
It seems that no matter who is in government, the protection of the environment ultimately comes down to the actions of people who care enough to fight.
Originally from Canberra, David Lowe is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and photographer with particular interests in the environment and politics. He’s known for his campaigning work with Cloudcatcher Media.
You can find more of his writing at Patreon and Gumroad.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
