Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Of course these amendments ought to be scrutinised by a Senate inquiry. It's really important for the Australian people to understand that this government's legislation—this amendment bill—is designed for one thing, and one thing only: it's designed to pave the way for our big, greedy and polluting corporations, many of whom pay little or no tax at all, to be able to trash our precious environment with ever-decreasing environmental protections and ever-decreasing scrutiny.

This is a government that will always, always go in to bat for its corporate donors—for those big corporate profiteers—and it is a government that will never stand up for nature. It will never, never stand up and take decent action to address the breakdown of our climate. When will we ever learn? How many more people need to die in floods and bushfires driven by dangerous climate change? How many more people need to lose their properties? How many more people need to have their lives destroyed because we are allowing and facilitating the destruction of nature by the big corporate profiteers? We must do better than this.

We already know, thanks to the interim report of the Samuel review, that the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is misnamed. We already know, thanks to that review, that it does not protect the environment and that it does not conserve biodiversity. We know that because Professor Samuel has told us so. And what's this government's response? It is to come in and weaken environmental protections. It is to come in and say, 'We're going to do more to pave the way for the big corporate polluters. We're going to do more to make sure that they can continue to look after the interests of their shareholders above and beyond the need to protect our environment.'

We have to do better, and I ask the government: how are you going to explain yourselves to your children and your grandchildren? How are you going to look them in the eye and say that, in the middle of an extinction crisis, in the middle of a climate crisis, you came in here to weaken environmental protections in Australia? You came in here to destroy the chance of getting strong action to address the climate breakdown. How are you going to look future generations in the eye? I'll tell you what: you won't be able to.

Senator Seselja interjecting—