Responding to reports that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has indefinitely shelved Nature Positive reforms until after the election, Mia Pepper, the Campaigns Director of the Conservation Council of WA, said this morning:
“It is a big mistake for Anthony Albanese to abandon urgent nature law reforms in response to a spurious lobbying campaign led by the West Australian Premier and the West Australian newspaper. The Prime Minister seems more concerned about headlines in the West Australian than what actually matters to West Australians. Polling last year showed that 78% of West Australians want stronger nature laws, but they continue to be misrepresented by the WA government who only represent a handful of big polluters.
“It is reckless and irresponsible of the WA Government to be sabotaging federal laws without playing any constructive role in alternative reforms that would secure protections for nature. The latest interference from the WA government has excluded the public voice and has underestimated the enormous public interest in protecting nature.
WA is in the midst of an extreme marine heatwave that is causing mass deaths of marine creatures including whales, turtles and other vulnerable species. This is directly caused by climate change driven by WA’s rising greenhouse gas emissions, greenlit by this government. With heatwaves scorching our land and seas, our natural world is crying out for stronger action and protection.
“Our leaders are racing to show big business and media interests who can bend over backwards the quickest, with Tanya Plibersek the only Minister demonstrating any ticker. This is why we need a national independent Environmental Protection Authority to take politics out of environmental decision making. We need an EPA that can make the tough decisions based on science and evidence not media headlines and political threats.
“We continue to call on the Premier and the Prime Minister to heed the community mandate to strengthen our nature laws. We need real action to protect nature and prevent the worst of climate change, not governments who weakly capitulate to bullying and smoke and mirrors from the fossil fuel industry.”