Max Chandler-Mather (Griffith, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It beggars belief that, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, a housing crisis, a climate crisis and an environmental crisis, in the dying days of this parliament, when Labor could work with the Greens to pass much-needed legislation to reduce student debt or allow people to see their GP for free, instead what Labor are doing is a dirty deal with the Liberals and Nationals to weaken Australia's environmental laws. It's disgraceful. In the context of a climate and environmental crisis devastating this country, a series of weakening laws will be passed through this parliament in a deal between Labor and the Liberals and Nationals that may well make it easier for coal and gas projects to continue into the future even where the science proves they're having a devastating impact on our environment.

Why is this happening? Basically it seems to be about ensuring the destructive salmon-farming industry can continue down in Tasmania, which is leading to the destruction and extinction of a precious Australian species, the maugean skate. The problem is that it's not just this; it's even worse than that, because the way these laws are written is so broad as to weaken Australia's environmental laws and, again, make it easier for the expansion of coal and gas in this country, cooking the planet.

Why on earth in the dying days of this parliament has Labor chosen to do this? When an Australian species faces extinction, they should be going out of their way to protect that native species, the maugean skate. Instead, what they're doing is pre-empting legal challenges from environmental groups that could have successfully protected this species and then changing the rules under the feet of these environmental groups just to make sure the salmon industry can continue. What is the point of having environmental laws if, every time it looks like an environmental or climate group might successfully challenge a coal or gas project or successfully challenge the salmon-farming industry and protect a native species, Labor, at the behest of those corporations, turns around, works with the Liberals, changes the rules and screws over our environment, our nature and our climate?

Don't take the Greens' words for it; this is what the head of the ACF has said about this disgraceful betrayal of Australia's environment and climate:

Labor came to government in 2022 promising to strengthen Australia's failing nature laws, but ends the term rushing through a bill to weaken them …

This amendment knowingly risks the extinction of a unique, irreplaceable Australian species. The Maugean skate survived the mass extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago, but it may not survive the Albanese government.

Carve-outs for particular industries are bad news for nature.

The logging industry's broad exemption to this law has resulted in untold damage to nature over 25 years.

Just to be clear, in many respects, as a result of these changes, environmental laws were stronger under Morrison than they are under Labor. Not only this but the Labor Party promised to introduce an environmental protection agency, where the Greens had secured a deal, where the environment minister had written to the Greens praising the deal with the Greens. What happened? The mining industry and the WA Premier teamed up to force the Prime Minister and this federal Labor government to renege on a deal to improve and strengthen our environmental laws. That's genuinely shocking because it begs the question: who runs this country? I thought it was meant to be this parliament, not the mining industry, not coal and gas corporations, not the salmon-farming industry. Why is it that, every time the coal and gas corporations or the mining industry ask for something, they get it?

What about the millions of Australians right now struggling to make ends meet? The head of Santos can ask for a rule to be changed or the law to be changed in this country, and the Labor government will go out of their way to do it. What about the millions of people in this country begging for more cost-of-living relief or the renters begging for help? They never get what they want. Why is it that, always in this place, big corporations and billionaires get rules changed overnight? This bill is ultimately a demonstration of the fact that big corporations and billionaires wield far too much power over this place, time and again in this term of parliament.

When the Greens secured a deal to introduce million-dollar fines for bankers, all it took was the head of the Australian Banking Association, former Labor premier Anna Bligh, to pick up the phone and force Labor to renege on the deal in under 24 hours. Why is it that, when we were pushing to raise taxes on coal and gas corporations and make them pay their fair share in tax, we found out that when they were writing these rules there were representatives from Santos, ExxonMobil and Chevron in the room providing advice on how those corporations would be taxed?

Now we come to this. In the last week of parliament the Labor Party, the Liberal Party and the Nationals are bending over backwards to serve the interests of big business at the expense of our environment, our climate and the millions of Australians who just want to see our environmental laws strengthened. It's genuinely shameful. I know there are Labor members in this place who are not happy about this move. As I understand it, there had to be three emergency meetings over the course of the weekend just to convince the Labor caucus to agree to these changes. I understand the need to maintain unity and things like that, but now is the time to speak out. How many times do we have to see the Labor Party renege on the principles they claim to represent for the interests of big corporations before Labor members in this place stand up and speak out against these actions? As long as Labor members refuse to speak out, the Labor Party is not going to change.

What's clear now is that, if we want stronger environmental and climate laws in the next term of parliament, if we want to break the hold that the big corporations and the big coal and gas industry have over the Labor Party, the Liberal Party and the Nationals, and, as a result, this parliament, we need to break the stranglehold that the major parties wield over this place. The only way we are going to get stronger environmental laws, stronger climate laws and a parliament that is prepared to take on the power and interests of billionaires and big corporations is if there is a powerful crossbench made up of progressive Independents and Greens willing to push Labor to properly act on the climate and environmental crisis. That is the only way it's going to happen.

There's been one government in the last few decades that has taken real, substantial action on the climate and environmental crisis with world-leading climate legislation, and that was the minority Gillard government, with the Greens and Independents in the balance of power. It took the power out of the factional bosses in the Labor Party, who far too often represent the interests of billionaires and big corporations, and put that power in the hands of the Australian parliament and, ultimately, the Australian people.

If anything has been made clear over this term of parliament it is that, as long as the Australian public is forced to rely on the Labor Party, the Liberals and the Nationals, we're not going to get the urgent action we need in this country. And it starts, ultimately, by breaking the power that big corporations wield over this place. Isn't it fitting that, at the end of this term of parliament, once again we are reminded who ultimately runs the Labor Party, the Liberals and the Nationals—not the interests of the environment, not the interests of the climate, not the interests of the Australian people but the interests of big corporations? When they tell the government to jump, the government jumps and if they need to do it with the Liberals and Nationals then so be it.

If you wonder why so many Australians are fed up with politics and you wonder why so many Australians are switching off politics right now, it's because they watched things like this happen. They watched the Labor Party get up and say they care about the environment, care about environmental laws, and then do two things. First, they reneged on a deal with the Greens to strengthen our environmental laws, the laws the environment minister praised as a matter of public record in the Guardian. The Prime Minister turned around and killed the deal at the behest of the mining industry and the WA Premier. And now this. Now this!

But I have genuine hope that in the next term of parliament we can reverse this disastrous decision and we can start to strengthen our environmental and climate laws, protect the Maugean skate and, more broadly, protect Australia's nature, environment and climate that is currently straining under the pressure of decades of terrible decisions by both major parties in this place.

I live in Brisbane, and we have just experienced a so-called natural disaster in Cyclone Alfred, but isn't it abundantly clear to everyone—certainly to all the climate scientists and a lot of the people I speak to—that this is going to happen more and more frequently until this parliament is willing to stand up to the climate-destructive coal and gas corporations and the big corporations, who far too often get their way in this place?

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