[Greens-Media] Media release: Greens call on PM to defy big business push to gut national environment protection

[Vandeleur, Monique (Sen L. Waters)]

Senator Larissa Waters
Senator for Queensland

Media release

Wednesday, 3 July 2013

Greens call on PM to defy big business push to gut national environment protection

The Australian Greens are urging Prime Minister Rudd to rule out succumbing to renewed demands by the Business Council of Australia and Premier O'Farrell, reported on today, to hand national environment protection to the states.

"If Kevin Rudd caves into the big business spin, he'll be committing to destroying the legacy left by Bob Hawke when he stepped in to save the Franklin River, and Labor's environment approvals policy will be the same as Tony Abbott's," Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens environment spokesperson, said.

"Of course big business, mining magnates, state premiers and Tony Abbott want to give state governments the final say when it comes to approving Australia's most environmentally destructive projects. They know that without federal scrutiny, it'll be easier to get tick off on projects that impact our most precious wild places and species.

"This has nothing to do with efficiency - the Senate inquiry on this very issue found no compelling evidence whatsoever that handing national environment protections to the states would improve business efficiency.

"State governments are inherently conflicted when it comes to approving environmentally risky developments, as they receive royalties from the projects that go ahead and in many cases act as the proponents.

"We're talking about putting Campbell Newman in charge of the Great Barrier Reef here.

"The Labor-dominated Senate inquiry concluded that it was not appropriate for the states and territories to have decision making powers for approvals that impacted matters of national environmental significance.

"The Senate inquiry also reported that most of the public submissions it received expressed grave concern about the risks to the environment.

"Prime Minister Rudd needs to talk to the environment, law and scientific experts that gave evidence to the Senate inquiry on this issue, not just cozy up to big business.

"Big business is falsely blaming Australia's already inadequate environment protections for the recent slowdown in productivity growth, when the Productivity Commission has found that the slowdown has been largely due to business decisions made by the big mining companies.

"Only the Greens can be trusted on the environment," Senator Waters said.

Contact - Monique Vandeleur 0419 626 725