Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I will sum up my comments earlier by saying that, immediately on seeing the Environment and Heritage Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2006, Humane Society International and World Wildlife Fund Australia expressed their alarm because the proposed changes mean that the potential of the Minister for the Environment and Heritage to politicise what should be an objective scientific process in assessing the wellbeing of Australia’s threatened wildlife species and habitats will be increased.

When I travel around this nation I see a continent not just in serious trouble as far as the environment is concerned but facing a cataclysmic process of extinction of species and habitats and destruction of the very fabric of life which gave rise to the predominance of we homo sapiens over the planetary biosphere. One of the world’s great thinkers, Stephen Hawking, has mused that it may be that ours is potentially like other planets in the universe, getting to the stage where, by taking over through the growth of intelligence and the powers that there are in the natural living system, we will destroy the ability of life to continue on the planet.

Here we have before us a piece of legislation which seeks to remove responsibilities and powers from the federal minister and the federal government rather than to greatly enhance them. We have just seen the process in relation to workplace relations where, through the corporations powers, the government has used greater powers than ever before to ensure that businesses predominate over workers in the split-up of the nation’s income and the wellbeing of the people of Australia. But when it comes to the environment and the species of this great nation, the reverse is occurring. The bill before us seeks effectively to shed off to the states and the developers not just the powers but the responsibility that the government has for this nation’s cultural and environmental amenity. The greed factor in this age of materialism is marauding our environment and robbing our children and grandchildren—indeed, people around the planet—of their right to inherit a living planet which is sustainable and where people live with the planet rather than off it.

There is no coverage of this debate in today’s press. As I said earlier, we will be considering the legislation tomorrow but the government will gag the debate. It brings home forcefully the delinquency not just of the government but of responsible authorities across the board in not just failing to prevent this cataclysm for the environment in this rich, wealthy nation of ours but turning their back on it. Those who vote for this legislation know what they are doing. They will be turning their back on this nation’s need for much stronger government intervention to prevent that spiral dive into death for so many of the species, so many of the ecosystems and so much of the living face of this continent, let alone the planet. It is disgusting legislation and the government should be ashamed of it. No doubt it will use its numbers to put it through the chamber. History will record this as a dark day for the environment.