Lock the Gate Alliance (LtG), along with 130 community groups, is calling on members of parliament not to pass Labor’s changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
They say it is a “betrayal” of Australia’s commitment to halt extinction by 2030 and “restore the integrity, connectivity and resilience of ecosystems by mid-century”.
Signatories include more than 60 regional conservation councils and environment groups, more than 30 volunteer-based local action groups and 19 national organisations.
Labor wants national environment law reform that experts say “will take us backwards” on protecting environments and community rights and interests, LtG said on November 14.
“Labor’s new environment laws include a streamlined assessment process that reduces community consultation and fast-tracks approvals, a proposal to hand approval powers under national laws to state and territory governments, and a new ‘pay to destroy’ environmental offsets scheme.”
LtG spokesperson Georgina Woods said environment groups from the Top End to Port Phillip, the Darling Downs to Derby and “everywhere in between” reject the changes being pushed by environment minister Murray Watt.
“The Albanese government’s environment reforms take a hatchet to already inadequate environmental protections and the public’s right to participate in decisions that affect us all.”
The environment laws, first drafted 25 years ago, have never been fit for purpose. Environment Centre NT director Kirsty Howey said: “Labor promised laws that protect nature, but instead, they’re fast-tracking its destruction.
“Rural and regional communities across Australia on the frontlines have the most to lose, and these laws lock them out.”
The groups say the new laws “go backwards”, in particular:
- The “streamlined” process that will cut out local communities, Traditional Owners and the public from having a say in decisions on coal and gas, renewables and minerals projects;
- Handing decisions of national significance, including impacts on our water, to state and territory governments, which have shown they cannot be trusted;
- Creating sweeping new corruption risks by giving the minister unprecedented power to decide how and when the law is actually applied (known as “rulings”);
- Entrenching a broad “national interest” loophole, which can be used to approve almost any development regardless of environmental impacts;
- Creating a new “pay to destroy” offset scheme, allowing developers to pay into a fund in return for obtaining approval; and
- Giving the minister the right to switch off important safeguards for offshore gas projects, impacting First Nations consultation and environmental assessment.
They say Australia needs new laws that ensure that Aboriginal cultural values are a “key part” of all assessments; water catchments, groundwater, forests and wildlife habitat are better protected; all polluting activities are subjected to stringent assessments of their full climate impacts; and all communities have the right to challenge decisions on their merits.
[The joint statement and sign-ons can be found here.]