26 July 2024

Tanya Plibersek’s hapless handling of tbe Environment portfolio has again been laid bare today, as a succession of witnesses at an inquiry in Canberra slammed the Albanese Government’s mismanagement of their long-promised but still-undelivered package of Federal environmental law reforms. 

Appearing at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Communications Committee, representatives from a wide spectrum of environmental and industry groups expressed near-complete frustration with Ms Plibersek’s broken promise to introduce a comprehensive EPBC Act overhaul and new National Environmental Standards to Parliament by the end of 2023.  

The hearing was convened to inquire into Labor’s Bills to establish a Federal Environment Protection Authority and a new data-collection body – and did nothing to dispel the widespread view that Ms Plibersek’s overall approach remains almost entirely friendless. 

Among a range of other similar evidence, witnesses variously spoke to Ms Plibersek’s Bills having “real weaknesses”, “not (being) satisfactory”, featuring a chronic lack of accountability and transparency, being “flawed”, “alarming” and “deeply concerning”, and having so many holes that it is possible that they are deliberately “being set up to fail”.

Even the Albanese Government-funded Environmental Defenders Office testified that Ms Plibersek’s EPA and EIA Bills “require serious amendment (and) are not sufficient by themselves”. 

Business groups also routinely hammered the lack of any sensible balance in the Bills that would realise Ms Plibersek’s rhetorical commitments that she would be a Minister who enhanced laws to make them ‘better for the environment and better for business’.  

The witnesses were likewise united in a view that Ms Plibersek has – extraordinarily – even wrongly defined the ‘nature positive’ term that is meant to lie at the very heart of her entire agenda in her portfolio. 

Very significantly, even Ms Plibersek’s own colleagues in the Western Australian Government have spoken to a range of far-reaching concerns in their inquiry submission.

In truth, Ms Plibersek should be facing a demotion from Cabinet in the Ministerial reshuffle on Sunday.  This is not only on account of the distinct lack of notable, positive achievements in her time as Environment Minister, but also in light of her woeful betrayal of environmentalists and industry, and Australians as a whole, to grasp the urgent need for serious and sensible legislative action in this portfolio.