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

Today the Greens negotiated significant wins to protect our forests and to stop Labor's fast-tracking of coal and gas. We stood up to end decades of exemptions for forest destruction and to remove the ability for coal and gas projects to use fast-tracked approvals or the national-interest loophole. We've pushed and pushed for powers to stop illegal land clearing and we have negotiated saving the water trigger and ensuring that the federal minister can step in to protect the environment. These are such important wins, which were only possible because the Greens are here in the parliament fighting for nature. That's why South Australians have put me here: to do everything I can for our planet and for future generations. The outcome today is far better than the train wreck we would have seen had there been a deal between the climate deniers on that side of the house and Labor.

Despite the significant wins for nature, our climate crisis needs more—so much more. Labor has repeatedly refused to support a climate trigger despite huge public support for it, preventing the environment minister from considering climate damage when approving projects. What a failure. What a travesty. Labor's refusal to take meaningful climate action shows the power that the coal and gas lobby still holds on both parties in this place. That's why, for the third year in a row, I'm delighted to be joining Rising Tide this weekend in Newcastle, to paddle out onto the beautiful Hunter River to protest our export of coal, along with hundreds of South Australians and Australians, including my kids, my family and my friends. Through our participation in Rising Tide, we are mounting a powerful protest against fossil fuels—against coal—and the damage they're doing to our planet, and for the transition that places like the Hunter Valley need for a safe planet for the future.