Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

This is an extraordinary report. It goes to the heart of what is wrong with this coalition government. It is government by the coalition for their mates at the expense of everybody else and the environment. It's worth highlighting some of the extraordinary material in this report.

In November 2016 the Commonwealth received allegations that there had been a potential violation of the EPBC Act on a property recently acquired by Jam Land in New South Wales. We know from ASIC documents that Minister Taylor and three of his brothers have connections to Jam Land, either as directors or indirect owners. What is clear is that Minister Taylor spoke about issues connected to the violation of our environment with Minister Frydenberg, who was then the Minister for the Environment and Energy. Since then, we have seen a special report on how the EPBC Act affects farmers. The investigation into the original violation hasn't been closed, but they've already finalised the review as to how they're going to look after their mates. What this shows is an issue that goes to the heart of the coalition government. It's running the country to look after its mates, not to do what's best for the nation.

The decisions we make in this place matter; we've seen that today with the medevac legislation. This is another example of the coalition protecting its mates at the expense of others and at the expense of the environment. This report on the fate of our precious grasslands shows how significant this is. After 200 years of European settlement, the vast majority of lowland grasslands and grassy woodlands in south-eastern Australia have been lost, either by complete removal or severe modification. There's only a tiny percentage left, and it was this tiny percentage that was poisoned by the owners of Jam Land. Native grasslands provide vital habitat for many threatened and rare species of plants and animals, which is what the Environment and Communications References Committee inquiry is looking at. It is looking at the extinction crisis and the loss of so many of our precious animals in Australia. For example, the ecological grassland community of the Monaro region contains some of the best remaining habitat for four nationally listed animal species—the golden sun moth, the grassland earless dragon, the pink-tailed worm lizard and the striped legless lizard. They are amazing names and they are amazing animals. Protecting these animals is what we should be doing, but, tragically, the coalition don't care about this. They care about looking after their mates at the expense of the environment and the expense of everybody else. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

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