Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

What is the point of an environment minister when there is nothing positive about her actions on nature? The world is burning. The globe is boiling. The alarm bells are ringing. The red alert on the climate crisis has been sounding for years now. It's clear what needs to be done: no new fossil fuels. The planet cannot handle more extraction, more burning, more destruction and more devastation. And there are no jobs on a dead planet.

But what does the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, do? She approves coalmine after coalmine, gas project after gas project, and refuses to end native forest logging. Two weeks ago, the environment minister outdid herself by approving three coalmine expansions in my home state of New South Wales—two in the Hunter Valley and one in Narrabri. In just one day, Labor gave approval to the release of 1.4 billion tonnes of climate pollution until 2060. That's three times Australia 's annual emissions over the lifetime of these coal projects, in the midst of a climate crisis.

These climate bombs will destroy hundreds of hectares of threatened species' habitat. On the very same day that the environment minister announced three new coalmine expansions, she posted more photos on social media, this time with bilbies in the Sturt National Park. This is hypocrisy to the highest level. The environment minister is so fond of photos of native animals and cuddly koalas. I'm not sure if she realises that, if she keeps approving coalmines, the only koalas left will be the stuffed variety in a museum.

The decision to approve three new coal projects in a single day is environmental and ecological vandalism. While the coalition denies the science, the Labor government refuses to do what the science tells us to do. What a complete betrayal of science, the environment and the people who voted for climate action. The Prime Minister is shaking hands with Pacific leaders one week, and his environment minister is signing away their future the next. Our Pacific neighbours have water lapping at their doors, and this government is too captured by coal and gas corporations to do anything.

The latest coal project approvals are climate-wrecking actions that will kill the planet, rob young people of their futures and create havoc for communities here and around the world. What is the point of the environment minister, who makes decisions that are the polar opposite of climate action? There is no point.