Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for the Environment and Water (Senator Watt) to a question without notice I asked today relating to the environment.

I asked the Minister for the Environment and Water about the Albanese government's commitment to reforming Australia's environment laws and about comments made by the minister and the Treasurer in relation to the establishment of a new role, the coordinator general. This is a role that exists in the Queensland regime, and it's used by fossil fuel companies to bypass basic environmental regulations and other rules and requirements.

It begs the question. If this government are serious about environmental law reform—that is, having environment laws in this country that actually protect nature; reduce and stop the extinction of our wildlife; protect our native forests and bushlands; and reduce and stop further pollution—then the last thing you would be doing is creating a system where fossil fuel companies and big business could just go begging for a bypass. So I think we've really got to get under the hood here and have a good look at what Minister Watt and the Albanese government are actually proposing.

When I asked the questions of the minister today, he launched into a tirade about how he could do a deal with anyone in this place. He's happy to do a deal with the coalition or work with the Greens. If you actually care about environmental protection, you have to care about who you're negotiating with and what the outcomes will be. And it seems that the minister doesn't care about how he gets his laws through the parliament as long as they get through. Well, the Australian environment and our climate cannot afford a minister who just wants to put in a political fix. We actually have to have laws in this country that protect nature, stop the destruction of our forests and stop the dangerous climate pollution.

We know that the coalition don't even have a united position on climate change. They're in a debate right now as to whether to wind back commitment to reducing emissions. A whole bunch on their frontbench and on the backbench don't want any environmental rules and regulations at all, and others just want them to be as weak as possible. So the government has a choice here. You can work with those who want to keep logging, digging and polluting, or you work with the rest of the parliament and the Australian Greens, of whom it is in our DNA to protect nature.

Australia's environment is under more stress than it has ever been. The logging and loss of our native forests means that deforestation is out of control. We have more animals than ever before on the endangered and critically endangered lists. We are a world leader when it comes to mammal extinction, and we have pollution rates related to climate change and global warming going through the roof. Pollution is still increasing at a time when we know that the climate crisis is already having a devastating impact on our communities, on our livelihoods, on our economy and, indeed, on our environment.

This government's got to get honest and serious about the choices they are prepared to make. I don't think it sounds smart or clever to anybody for a minister to stand there and say he'll do a deal, whatever the numbers are, to get it through. You need more than a political fix to stop dangerous global warming and to stop the destruction of nature. You actually need to have the guts to stop the chainsaws, stop the bulldozers and stop the pollution.

Question agreed to.