12 August 2024
Topics: Federal EPA, nature positive laws
E&OE
Kieran Gilbert:
Let’s return now to federal politics and the government’s been pursuing its nature positive laws but no clear path through the Parliament. The Shadow Environment Minister Jonno Duniam is here. Senator, thanks for your time. Have you stated publicly that you won’t back the nature positive laws and the EPA as it’s going to be known.
Senator Duniam:
We’re not quite at that point. We are working in good faith to try and make what is a very bad set of laws the least-worst possible. The government have made it very clear to stakeholders that they’re going to jam this thing through the Parliament one way or another, either with us or with the Greens. If they do it with the Greens, the deal that is, then of course you’re going to see horrible things like a climate trigger which will kill jobs and investment in this country, a banning of native forestry which is not a science-based approach, all in the name of just getting this bill through. Now we’ve got to wind back to exactly what this government promised when it came to environmental policy at the election and that was to have new laws to replace the outdated EPBC Act in place, or at least in Parliament, by the end of last year. We don’t have that. Instead, all we have is a new bureaucracy administering the same old broken laws. Now, there’s still a bit of water to go under the bridge, but there’s a long way to go.
Kieran Gilbert:
So you’re not saying, you’re not flat out against the EPA because if you talk to those in the resources sector, that issue you spoke about, the climate trigger, that’s the one they’re most worried about, particularly if the government did do a deal with the Greens. You can prevent that from happening.
Senator Duniam:
The government could also prevent it from happening by not pushing ahead, holding a gun to the head of the private sector, saying, well, we’re going to get this thing through whether you like it or not. Industry don’t actually want an EPA. There are EPA’s in seven of the eight State and Territory jurisdictions. We don’t need another one. The government are insistent on putting one in, one that is terribly constructed, that has free ranging powers, huge penalties and there are a range of other issues with the legislation that we have before us that need to be dealt with before we could allow this thing to pass.
Kieran Gilbert:
So what are the key amendments as you see it?
Senator Duniam:
So we want to make sure that the EPA CEO actually has a focus on economy and jobs, not just the environment. You cannot have someone making decisions around a mining project without considering the economic considerations. We want to make sure that the penalties are not way out of line with exactly what we have around the rest of the world, these nearly $1 billion penalties for certain companies that breach the law. An EPA that is independent of government going and conducting assessments and issuing stop work notices in effect without any evidence or substance to what they’re doing. There are many, many, many concerns around this and the related legislation that we need to address.
Kieran Gilbert:
Do you believe that this will get done before the election or is this now looking like legislation for a second term of the Labor Government if they win.
Senator Duniam:
The government are desperate to get this legislation through because they failed to get the substantial reforms through, that was the replacement laws to the EPBC Act. So all they’ll have is this new bureaucracy, the EPA, administering the same broken laws and that’s why they don’t care, come hell or high water whether they do a deal with us to try and save jobs or a deal with the Greens to kill them.
Kieran Gilbert:
But do you feel a sense of responsibility as well to try and get a more business-friendly landing point as opposed to, say, a deal with Greens?
Senator Duniam:
We’ll do the best we can to get the best outcome for jobs and the economy, because this government’s failing. But at the end of the day, this is the flabbergasting bit here, the fact is they’re willing to consider doing a deal with the Greens just to chalk up a political hit which will have disastrous outcomes for the economy and for jobs. They’re not genuine about the promises they make, they just want to be able to point to some win on the political scoreboard. It’s terrible.
Kieran Gilbert:
Senator Jonno Duniam, appreciate it. Talk to you soon.