Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I want to make a short statement; I don't have questions. Today the Greens have announced that we will support the Environment Reform Bill 2025 and related bills, having achieved significant amendments for new protections for our native forests and excluding coal and gas from fast-tracking. We've negotiated significant wins, but we know it's nowhere near enough. This package, however, is better than the status quo—considerably better than the status quo—and it's a whole lot better than it would have been if negotiated with the climate deniers on the other side of this chamber.

Labor's first draft was a wish list for corporate environmental destruction. It would have gutted our environment laws, given corporations the green light for new coal and gas projects with just a 30-day approval process, and introduced new loopholes to an already very weak act. Instead, Greens pressure made this bill better than the weak laws we have and infinitely better than if the government had done that deal with the climate deniers in the coalition.

While Labor had clearly hoped to pass a bill on behalf of big corporations, the Greens held firm during negotiations on protections for nature, boosted by community opposition to a bill that took us backwards. We won outcomes that forest campaigners have fought for across this country for decades—not enough, but a significant step in the right direction to begin the proper protection of our native forests—and we made it harder for big corporations to keep wrecking nature—our beautiful forests and all the creatures who live in them. We have ended an outrageous legal carve-out for logging that's resulted in devastation of our forests and threatened the habitats of our species that are at risk. We've fought for and won the removal of the ability of coal and gas projects to use fast-tracked approvals or the national interest loophole—such important wins. We've fought for and won the protection of the water trigger.

We said from the start the Greens wouldn't accept a bill that would take nature backwards and we would fight to protect forests and nature. Millions of Australians who voted for the Greens and put us here didn't put us here to lead our vote backwards and weaken the protection of nature. We've won protections that go forward, and that is our job. We stand on the activities and activism of thousands of Australians who have put us here to make that fight. We know that our beautiful native forests and bushland, which protect our wildlife and biodiversity, are essential to fighting off the pollution of fossil fuels. It's only possible because there were Greens in the parliament to fight for our planet.

You know this is a good outcome when you're angering all the right people. The Minerals Council of Australia has called this 'an inferior and disappointing outcome'. The Business Council called it 'a missed opportunity', and the Liberals are in hysterics. Meanwhile, environment groups have backed in our improvements. Greenpeace have said this is 'a significant improvement on the broken laws that have for too long failed to deliver credible environment protection'. Climate Council said:

This deal strengthens protections for our native forests, and provides a faster yes to responsible renewable energy projects that cut climate pollution.

The Bob Brown Foundation has acknowledged the hard work of the Greens in making important gains, especially taking Australia a step further towards saving a forest and woodland habitats of threatened species. The Australian Conservation Foundation called this 'a historic step for nature', with our forests 'finally covered by national law' for the first time.

Despite these significant wins for nature however, we know there's a lot more to be done. Despite huge public support, Labor has repeatedly refused to support a climate trigger. This failure prevents the environment minister from considering climate damage when approving projects. How absurd. What a disaster. What a shocking weakness in the face of all the science that's telling us the climate crisis is coming at us harder and faster than previously predicted. As Bob Brown recently said:

Having an Environment Minister who can't act on the greatest threat to our environment and ourselves, which is climate change, is like a Treasurer who has no power over tax.

It makes no sense. Labor's refusal to take meaningful climate action shows that the coal-and-gas lobby still have way too much influence on both major parties in this place.

Take today's emissions projections report, prepared by the climate department, for example. It clearly shows that the current absence of climate policies has Australia on track to reach just a 48 per cent reduction by 2035, nowhere near the government's 62 per cent target. Forty-eight per cent is a country mile away from the 62 per cent emissions reduction that Labor promised. We know that Labor will fall significantly short of even its 2030 target without stronger action. These are diabolical pollution numbers that suggest we are on track for cataclysmic climate change. The numbers in this report show Australia is nowhere near meeting our supposed climate targets for pollution reduction, which is directly thanks to decisions like Labor's approval of the North West Shelf gas project within two weeks of being elected this year. Labor must stop approving new coal and gas. It should also build on the momentum of the EPBC agreement today and immediately move to end all native forest logging to help hit the 2030 target.

In the face of so much climate inaction from this government, I'm delighted to be joining Rising Tide in Newcastle for the third time tomorrow and to paddle out into the beautiful Hunter River to protest our export of coal. The show of solidarity of hundreds of South Australians will be joining that of so many other Australians from around the country at Newcastle's Rising Tide. It's a powerful protest against fossil fuels and the damage they are doing to our world. It is time to end new coal and gas. We see the effects of not having done so everywhere around our planet, including and not least in my own state, South Australia. Like so many South Australians, I grieved the loss and damage caused by the harmful algae bloom that's unfolding in front of our eyes on our beautiful beaches, with thousands of dead fish and no sign of abatement, a crisis that continues and, in some places, is getting worse. Scientists have warned us for years: fossil fuels are driving the climate crisis, and this ocean warming is risking our beautiful marine life, our food systems and our beaches. Labor can throw money at cleaning up climate disasters, but, as long as the government keeps opening up coal and gas, we'll keep seeing climate disasters like the algae bloom crisis in South Australia.

The show of solidarity at Rising Tide speaks for itself. Australians are fed up with the major parties' commitment to fossil fuels. There will be kids, parents, grandparents, coalminers and Novocastrians who know the need for transition, have seen it before and know that they're facing another one, busloads of South Australians. We'll be protesting for our future, for the future of all of us and for the future of all the kids to come.