Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the provisions of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Streamlining Environmental Approvals) Bill 2020 be referred to the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 11 November 2020.

This motion is in relation to the government's legislation that was tabled in the House of Representatives last week that is going to weaken Australia's environmental laws. It's going to weaken the ability of the federal government and the Commonwealth to ensure that we protect Australia's most iconic places, our special species and the wildlife that Australians right around this country and indeed people around the world hold dear.

This legislation is a carbon copy of the Tony Abbott bill from 2014, and it's very disingenuous of the government to put forward this bill without any other process. We know that the government has been saying for the past few months that they would be insisting on a piece of legislation that would mirror or at least reflect the recommendations from the Graeme Samuel review. That, of course, is the independent review done into the EPBC Act, the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, the current law that is meant to look after our environment. That review has been 10 years waiting and is still ongoing; we haven't got the final report. The interim report, which was tabled in June, made it very clear that we need stronger environment protection, not weaker, because our environment is at breaking point. Our environment is at a point where the decline is so bad that, if we don't do something, it is simply unsustainable. The rate of extinction of Australian species is unimaginable. Climate change, land clearing and pollution are pushing our environment to crisis point and our native species into extinction.

What we need is stronger environmental protection and an independent watchdog to make sure those rules are put into place and those standards upheld. But what this government has done is introduce a piece of legislation that simply hands over powers for approvals to the states and the territories. Why do the government want to do this? It's for the same reason they wanted to do this in 2014 under the leadership of Tony Abbott, and that's to make it easier for big miners and big developers to get approval for projects that are going to damage or be harmful to the environment. The government today are arguing that we need it because of COVID-19. They're doing it under the cover of the pandemic crisis. It is absolutely cynical and terrible that this government is prepared to sacrifice Australia's already damaged environment, suffering environment in order to do what it is these corporations have wanted for a long time—that is, an easy ride through the environmental approval process.

This parliament and this Senate need to stand up to this government and say that this will go to a proper inquiry. We need to make sure we scrutinise it. It is our job as legislators to do that. There should be no more progress of this legislation in this place until there has been a full-blown Senate inquiry at the very least. We should, in fact, be waiting until the final report is tabled, which won't be until 31 October. That's what we should be waiting on. We shouldn't be allowing this government to rush through legislation that is going to trash our environment even more.

Heaven knows what happens when there aren't strong enough environment protections, when the states make the decisions. You end up seeing Rio Tinto blowing up ancient Aboriginal artefacts. You see state governments wanting to dam the Franklin or arguing for coal seam gas extraction to be expanded in the Northern Territory and New South Wales. We can't trust this government. They want us to rush this legislation through with no inquiry, with a nod and a wink that it will all be okay. Well, we don't trust you. This must be inquired into, and this motion must send the legislation off to inquiry. (Time expired)