Western Australia’s peak environment organisation, the Conservation Council of WA, has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urging him to pass the EPA and EIA Bills to create a new Federal Environment Protection Agency after polling earlier this month showed a huge majority of WA voters support stronger nature laws. 

In an open letter (read here) CCWA appealed to the Prime Minister to pass federal nature laws this term of government to ensure that Australia’s environmental legal and regulatory framework can provide for the urgently needed mechanisms to protect incredibly valuable and threatened Australian species and ecosystems. 

Speculation on whether the laws will be debated in the last sitting week of the year, or put on the backburner until after next year’s election, has emerged as The Minerals Council of Australia and Business Council of Australia ramped up lobbying efforts to put an end to the nature reforms. 

It follows research earlier this month which showed an overwhelming majority of West Australian voters support stronger nature laws, with three quarters (75%) of WA voters supporting the creation of a federal environmental regulator that is independent of government. 

The new Redbridge polling of more than 1500 WA voters showed nearly 4 in 5 West Australians want stronger laws to protect nature (78%) and climate impacts for big projects to be assessed before they’re approved (79%), reinforcing previous polling from YouGov that found 84% of West Australians want stronger nature laws, nearly identical to the national average (86%). 

Federal negotiations follow the passage of WA nature law reforms that undermine the independence of the WA EPA, and recent changes to the WA government’s regulation of greenhouse gas emissions that effectively remove any state-based conditions on major polluting projects like Woodside’s Burrup Hub expansion. 

Speaking after the release of the letter today, the Nature Program Manager at the Conservation Council of WA Rhiannon Hardwick said: 

“Failure to act now risks delaying reforms for years, placing the climate and Australia’s biodiversity at even greater risk.  

“There is overwhelming public mandate for strengthening nature laws. Thousands of Western Australians have signed our [CCWA’s] petition calling for stronger federal nature laws and recent polling by Redbridge shows that nearly 80% of WA voters support strengthened legal protections for nature.  

“West Australians have been falsely represented on nature protection. West Australians strongly support the protection of nature and real action on climate. 

“The federal government must seize this moment and ensure these laws pass with the necessary strength to meet international obligations and protect Australia’s precious and threatened natural environments.” 

ENDS 

As someone who supports stronger nature protection, please call your Federal Labor Member of Parliament and let them know how important it is to you for PM Anthony Albanese to pass the EPA and EIA Bills to create a new Federal Environment Protection Agency in this term of government.