Urgent Call to Action: Protect Australia’s Natural Heritage from Ongoing Environmental Degradation | Insights by Adam Morton

Admin

Urgent Call to Action: Protect Australia’s Natural Heritage from Ongoing Environmental Degradation | Insights by Adam Morton

There’s a key piece missing from the political chatter about Australia’s nature protection laws: the environment itself. This should be the main focus, but it hardly gets mentioned.

This oversight isn’t new. Australia has a history of overlooking its unique wildlife and landscapes, dating back to European colonization. However, recent events in parliament have taken this neglect to another level.

To catch you up, the Prime Minister recently announced that plans for a new “nature positive” law, which aimed to create a national Environment Protection Agency (EPA), have been abandoned before the upcoming election. This decision breaks a promise he made before the 2022 federal election.

This isn’t the first time Anthony Albanese has stepped back from a commitment to protect Australia’s wildlife. He previously abandoned plans to revise the outdated 1999 Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which many—including conservation and industry groups—agree isn’t working properly.

The consequences of these actions are serious. A major report released in 2021 revealed that Australia has been clearing habitats critical for endangered species at an alarming rate. This century, nearly 8 million hectares—an area larger than Tasmania—have been destroyed. Most of this destruction occurred without needing federal approval due to current laws.

The number of species at risk of extinction in Australia has now exceeded 2,000. This includes well-known animals such as the koala and the eastern quoll. The report highlighted a grim reality: nature is in poor shape and getting worse, impacted by habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, resource extraction, and climate change.

Notably, a World Economic Forum report warned that environmental decline threatens not just wildlife but could lead to societal collapses with long-lasting effects.

This situation isn’t a fluke. A ten-year review conducted by former watchdog chair Graeme Samuel found that Australia’s environmental laws need a comprehensive overhaul, including creating national standards to evaluate development projects. Surprisingly, these standards do not exist yet.

Plibersek, the environment minister, agreed to implement all 38 recommendations from Samuel’s review and started a consultation process to rewrite the laws. However, reaching a consensus proved difficult, leading to significant backlash, especially from business interests in Western Australia.

The government decided to break their commitment into pieces, delaying the law overhaul indefinitely. Although Plibersek moved forward with plans for an EPA, those plans have now also been scrapped before the election.

Albanese has offered a few justifications for this change, claiming he doesn’t have the support in the Senate to pass the bill. However, these excuses overlook the fact that the government has not engaged with the crossbench since November, when Albanese intervened to halt talks that could have ended state-sanctioned logging exemptions from national laws.

The initial proposal for the EPA included provisions that would have allowed the environment minister to introduce national standards for forestry agreements. This change was not a large concession; it merely aligned with past commitments.

The stalling of these efforts has more to do with political maneuvering than practical concerns. In Western Australia, where the resources sector has significant influence, the nature protection bills have become a contentious issue ahead of upcoming elections.

The shelved EPA plan would have been a step forward. It aimed to grant the EPA authority to make regulatory decisions and impose penalties. Yet, the EPA’s independence would have been limited, as its leaders would be appointed by the minister.

Supporters of the abandoned bills, including industry groups, argue that they would threaten jobs and raise living costs—a claim often made in political debates without much evidence.

Looking ahead, it’s unclear what will happen next. While Labor has expressed intent to improve environmental laws if re-elected, the specifics remain vague. In contrast, the Coalition appears ready to move away from conservation efforts, despite the clear evidence of their inadequacies.

As things stand, unless significant changes occur, the decline of Australia’s natural environment is likely to continue. Unfortunately, both major political parties seem content to let this issue fade from public thought.



Source link