3 July 2024
Topics: impact of environmental lawfare on the economy, climate trigger and Labor’s failed nature positive laws Fatima Payman, possibility of an early election
E&OE
Peta Credlin:
Let’s bring in the panel. Pauline Hanson’s chief of staff James Ashby and with me in Canberra, if you’ll get the picture of him on the desk, Shadow Environment Minister Senator Jonathon Duniam. Welcome to you both. I want to start with this new report today from the Menzies Research Centre that’s found Australia shamefully is now the lawfare capital of the world. According to the report, Australia’s had the most climate lawsuits in the world on a per capita basis – 127 separate cases launched from the mid-1990s to 2022. The report also found the nation’s top 25 environmental activist groups have more than doubled their combined revenue in less than a decade and nine major projects have been delayed by green lawfare between August 2022, about the time that Labor was elected, and June this year. Well, Senator Duniam, yes this is terrible but it’s cost us about $17 billion and something like 30,000 jobs.
Senator Duniam:
Yeah it is a crime to think that in this country we’re allowing this to occur. We’re in a cost of living crisis, the economy is faltering, the Government’s casting about trying to say they’re doing everything to grow the economy and sure things up for Australian households and businesses, yet they’re complicit in this. So firstly, they’re giving money to the Environmental Defenders Office, which is listed in these top 25 organisations.
Peta Credlin:
So it’s money going around. Taxpayers money go to these mobs and then they take us to court and then we lose these projects.
Senator Duniam:
Absolutely right and they think it’s good enough to continue on Ad infinitum. There is no end date to this funding going to the EDO so this will happen forever under their watch, plus at the end of last year, we were supposed to have laws in Parliament to reform the EPBC Act, which is where most of this happens, and so they’ve failed on that count too. So there’s no end in site, they think it’s ok. No amount of money you put into propping up the economy and all of these schemes they’ve got running will ever address the problems we face while they have not fixed this issue for Australia.
Peta Credlin:
James, on this similar vein, I mean there’s talk of a deal being done between the Greens and Labor and what could be called a climate trigger into these nature positive reforms, bills going through the Parliament. It would mean ministerial approval before any of these projects can go ahead. Now my concern would be if this ministerial approval is a disallowable instrument, it means the Senate crazies could band together and kill off a project, even if the minister says go ahead.
James Ashby:
Yeah and a lot of people don’t realise that an instrument of this nature can be disallowed by the Senate within 15 sitting days. So we’ve seen that happen so many times even in this term of Parliament but previously as well, the attempts were there when the Coalition were in government, and it particularly occurs when the Greens just want to grandstand a lot of the time. It’s worse, though, when they’ve got the government by the short and curlies as they do at the present moment, along with some other crazies on the crossbench like Jackie Lambie Network and David Pocock, so this is the worry that we’ve got. Yes, a lot of great projects can be stifled as a result of a gun being held to the head of this government right now to include this trigger, as you say.
Peta Credlin:
You are a colleague of hers, she’s not fronting for work this week, but we’re paying her as taxpayers. This is Senator Payman, she’s abstaining. I’ve got to ask, why is she being paid by taxpayers if she’s not working for taxpayers? But all the speculation is she’ll walk tomorrow from Labor. What do you think?
Senator Duniam:
I reckon there’s good money on that. The fact that she hasn’t showed, she hasn’t lined up to be accountable for what she said and done and she isn’t giving any explanation properly to the Labor caucus of which she was once a part. I mean, one of the key features of Labor as we know is solidarity and you should expect that from them. That’s what they pride themselves on unlike us, we have a fairly robust, yet more flexible arrangement. So she does owe an explanation to Australians having said and done what she’s done as to what she intends to do. Hiding from scrutiny and not actually turning up in Parliament to review and scrutinise legislation and at least double down on what she said I think is a bit of a cop out. So we’ll see where she goes tomorrow but it does rather prove the point about Anthony Albanese’s authority in party room.
James Ashby:
Not to One Nation.
Peta Credlin:
Yeah, I don’t think she’s coming your way and just on that point to, you know, the involvement of Glenn Drury says to me, you know, this has been going on for some time. There’s a clear strategy behind it, but I’ve also got to ask you now, I’ve got around the corridors today, everyone’s talking about being on a war footing for an early election. I don’t think they’ll go before the Queensland election in October. I think there’s brick bats up there for Labor. I think they’ll wait for that sort of dust to settle. But the PM’s made a big change to the way in which the money’s moving through Labor in the budget rounds, he’s freed up funds for things that they haven’t yet done to be pork barrelled for the next election. That says to me they’re getting ready to go. You know, he’s declined this NATO invitation as well. What do you think, James?
James Ashby:
Well, we got a five week break. Let’s see how many of them go on holidays at the end of this week. That’ll be a telltale sign, number one, number two, I really think we’ve got to start having a look here, what, you’ll know before anyone because your advertising gurus there at Sky will have all their bookings made. So we’ll have a pretty clear indication there. I think there is a danger, though, that if they do go beyond March, let’s keep in mind that we’ve got a state election in Queensland come October, another state election over in WA in March. There are only a limited number of opportunities for an early election. I would say December 7 may be an option. If they go earlier than that, the only other option is September 7, but that means we won’t go back to Parliament. There won’t be another sitting for you, Jonno. I’m afraid no more decision. So yeah, there’s a number of different things. There’s a couple of other reasons here why it might go. Really, if Fatima Payman does go to a new Muslim political party that hasn’t yet been registered, that may be a reason to go early and also Clive Palmer hasn’t registered the UAP again. So though there are a couple of reasons why the Prime Minister might want to go early and not be distracted by some fringe parties or other minor parties.
Peta Credlin:
That is excellent and shrewd analysis as always, James. I’ll leave it there, gentlemen. Thank you Senator Duniam, good to see you in person, thank you James Ashby.