Elizabeth Watson-Brown (Ryan, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It's been a big week at the end of a big parliamentary year, with some lows and some highs. This week, there was a high. The Greens secured significant environmental reforms, to protect our environment from greenwashed habitat-destruction and dangerous fracking. After months of pressure, the government has finally agreed to scrap their controversial offsets from the Nature Repair Bill and to establish new environmental protections from climate-wrecking, environment-wrecking and community-wrecking gas-fracking projects. This agreement, secured by the Greens, is a major blow to climate-bomb projects in places like the Beetaloo Basin and the Kimberley. It's a win for the climate, a win for the environment and a win for First Nations communities.

Prior to this—and unbelievably—the minister was not required to assess fracking projects for their impact on the environment. Let that sink in. Yet, as most thinking people know, fracking can have absolutely catastrophic impacts for our critical water resources.

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