You may have read Malcolm’s upbeat ’Issue 43: It's been a good news week’ celebrating our Qld State Govt passing into Law two major renewals targets. Unfortunately this week things have changed.
The Albanese Government has caved, yet again, to the fossil fuel lobby.
Our February ’Issue 37: New law in '24’ reviewed our Environmental Protection & Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. This Act is Australia’s most important piece of environmental legislation. We wrote:
This year will be a big one for our environment as the Australian government writes new, more effective laws to protect our country, wildlife and ecosystems.
Well, Labor’s promised crucial reforms to the EPBC Act have now been postponed.
Until at least 2025.
😡😡😡😡 😡Not happy!!😡 😡😡😡😡
Let’s recap.
The EPBC Act was introduced in 1999. This is the set of environmental laws against which projects are assessed, and has to be reviewed every 10 years. Professor Graeme Samuel commenced his review of the Act in Oct 2019 and delivered his report one year later, in Oct 2020, with a suite of recommendations for the government to implement to improve the Act.
Our Federal Government’s response to the Review, the Nature Positive Plan, was delivered in Dec 2022. The Executive Summary did not mince words:
The equation facing Australia is simple. If our laws don’t change, our trajectory of environmental decline will not change either.
It promised to reform our laws guided by these three principles:
Delivering better environmental protection and laws that are nature positive
Speeding up decisions and making it easier for companies to do the right thing
Restoring integrity and trust to systems and environmental laws.
This was Labor’s promise.
Environment groups made their own many recommendations to improve the EPBC Act and many of you signed petitions and made submissions for a better EPBC. One particular flaw was singled out by The Climate Council, which explained:
At the moment, these projects get the green light because Australia’s national environment law doesn’t specifically require the Environment Minister to consider climate change, or its impacts. It ignores the damage that any new coal, oil or gas project built anywhere does to people, places and wildlife everywhere.
We held our collective breaths and stayed positive, waiting for the full suite of proposed amendments to the Act to be announced.
There was a hint of good news…. in the final sitting of Federal Parliament in December last year an expanded “water trigger” was introduced into the EPBC. This amended law compels the Federal Minister to assess “unconventional gas development” (fracking) for impact on water. 💧💧This was a much needed improvement. 💧💧
But then, Labor caved.
Rather than an Act that will assess the climate impact of proposed projects, we’re getting an Environment Protection Agency, an Environment Information Australia, and a promise to give us something, sometime later…..
The Environment Protection Agency will merely better police a broken Act.
Environment Information Australia will collect data to support faster environmental approval decisions (“approvals”, not “rejections”).
Labor’s Nature Positive Plan mentions “climate” 29 times. They have no excuse to leave out the impact on our climate in the current proposed amendments. In fact, Juice Media shows how Albo gave a 2005 speech to Parliament where he proposes a climate trigger be introduced into the EPBC!!
They say a week is a long time in politics. It’s also a long time in our battle for a stable climate. Late last week, as I started writing this newsletter, Madeleine King, Minister for Resources, released “Australia’s Future Gas Strategy”. Can you believe it?? “...gas will remain an important source of energy through to 2050 and beyond…”
I won’t cover the Strategy this time, but experts know that the premise of the Strategy - a shortage of gas in Australia - is rubbish.
So there’s work to do. Keep up the pressure, hold Labor to their promise to fix our nature laws, and call out your displeasure with this insane gas strategy!
What can you do today?
The most popular action from our last news was to check out the Brisbane Premiere of Walanbaa Ngiiyani | Stronger Together, a 35 minute documentary about the disastrous impacts of coal and gas extraction on communities around Australia and the Pacific is screening Saturday week. The film features the ancient lands and waters of the Gomeroi people in northwest New South Wales, and shows first hand the destruction being wrecked by coal and gas. A panel discussion including one of the young people from the film follows. Check out the trailer and RSVP to see this great film and discussion, 4pm - 5.30pm, Sat 25 May, at Five Star Cinemas, New Farm.
🐝 If you have 5 minutes:
In April last year, Queensland Resources Minister Scott Stewart blocked a proposal by Fox Resources to develop a coal mine in the Bundaberg region, on grounds that it is not in the public interest. Fox has appealed the decision, asserting that the Minister has not proven adequate community opposition.
Action: Sign the petition hosted by Protect the Bush Alliance to show that the community indeed does oppose this mine.
Last week ANZ bank announced it will no longer directly finance new and expanded oil and gas extraction projects; and it won’t take on any oil and gas company that is not already on their books. This is a tremendous improvement, but it's not enough. The bank still provides corporate finance to fossil fuel companies, as distinct to projects. If the corporate is something like Whitehaven Coal, which only mines coal, what do you think the finance is doing?
Action: Send an email to ANZ to ask them to rule out all forms of finance to the fossil fuel industry
The Duty of Care for our Kids petition, launched by Australia Parents for Climate, is just over 100 signatures short of their goal. We featured this petition in Issues 26 and 27, so if you are new to Climate Club Qld, or couldn’t sign it back then, please consider signing it now.
Action: Sign the Petition supporting David Pocock's Duty of Care Bill
🐇 If you have 15 minutes:
Adani is back in court seeking to overturn an Order to rework groundwater modelling for its Carmichael mine in central Qld. The move may have backfired, with the Qld Department of Environment, Science and Innovation unable to confirm that open-cut mining is not causing environmental harm at the sacred Doongmabulla Springs. The revelation vindicates the concerns of Wangan and Jagalingou traditional owners.
Action: Email Leanne Linard (Minister for the Environment and Great Barrier Reef) to urge her to meet with the cultural custodians and prosecute Adani in the Court to prevent the destruction of the springs.
💃🏽 If you have 30 minutes or more: Seminars, seminars!
Lock the Gate will highlight the importance of our farmland and food bowls by entering Lock the Gate-themed creations into the Ekka’s famous Cake Decorating, Quilts of Queensland and Flower Beard competitions.
Action: Contact Lock the Gate to receive more information, but you’d better get cooking! Cake Decorating entries close 24th May
The previous fortnight saw 12 days of action in every capital city and in more than 60 communities across the continent calling for Labor to Keep Us Safe - No More Coal and Gas! The timing was unfortunately spot-on, with Labor’s announcement to delay the EPBC reforms and the release of the “Future Gas Strategy”. Ordinary citizens came together for respectful and lawful actions at the offices of many of our Federal Labor MPs. It was a great example of the power of collective action.
That’s all for today, folks 👋🏽 Thanks for taking action.
See you in two weeks, Ron
plus Malcolm, Robyn and Jan - The Climate Club Qld team
To help us keep these newsletters helpful, you can always reach us by email climateclubqld@gmail.com or check out the simple info on our About page.
We live, work and play on the lands of the Yuggara and Turrbal people in and around Meanjin - Brisbane. We pay respect to their Elders, past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded - always was, always will be Aboriginal land.