Australian Greens

Principles

The Australian Greens believe that:

1. Australia’s natural resources must be managed in accordance with the principles of intergenerational equity, the precautionary principle, biodiversity conservation and respect for the traditional ownership of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
2. Resource extraction decisions must be guided by rigorous independent environmental and social impact assessment.
3. Climate change must be a central consideration in the management of forests, fisheries and mining.
4. Coal seam gas mining and underground coal gasification pose unacceptable threats to Australia’s land, water and industries, such as agriculture, grazing and tourism.
5. Soil is a valuable natural resource and as such must be managed in a manner which maintains soil fertility and health.

Aims

Forests, Plantations and Wood Products

The Australian Greens want:

6. Recognition of the essential role played by mature forest ecosystems in wildlife habitat, carbon storage and water supply.
7. A sustainable and productive wood products industry on public and private land that maintains or enhances the resilience of natural ecosystems and that creates long-term skilled jobs and social sustainability in regional communities.
8. An end to the destruction of old-growth and high conservation value forests from logging and regeneration burns.
9. A prohibition on use of native forests for electricity generation.
10. An end to the export of woodchips and whole logs from native forests.
11. An end to tax arrangements which advantage plantations over other crops.
12. World’s best practice, certified, farm-scale plantation forestry.
13. Plantations with a diversity of species rather than monocultures.
14. Nomination of Australia’s qualifying ancient forests for listing on the National or World Heritage registers.
15. Abolition of the Regional Forest Agreements and equal treatment of forests, plantations and the wood production industry with other activities under environmental law.
16. A national wood production industry plan that will complete the transition from native forests to existing plantations, including retraining and other assistance for workers and the development of sustainable alternative fibre industries.
17. An immediate end to broad scale land clearing to protect biodiversity and to arrest soil loss, river degradation and salinity.
18. The management of re-growth forest to an old growth state to maximise biodiversity, carbon uptake and water yield, which are more valuable outcomes than logging.
19. The revegetation of land including salt affected land with biodiverse native vegetation which can provide carbon sinks, hydrological management and biodiversity restoration.

Fisheries

The Australian Greens want:

20. The management of recreational and commercial fisheries under a national framework to maintain sustainable fish populations and fisheries, and to minimise the environmental impacts of fishing.
21. An evidence based strategy to maintain adequate, representative and comprehensive ‘no-take’ areas in all marine bioregions for the conservation of marine biodiversity, fish nursery habitat and fish stocks.
22. The continuation by Australia of its proactive stance on illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, including assisting in the development of alternative employment opportunities for impoverished communities that rely on the illegal trade.
23. A national framework for the assessment and regulation of environmentally benign aquaculture developments based on ecosystems management principles.
24. A moratorium on deep-sea bottom trawling in Australian waters and reduction in by-catch in all trawl fisheries.
25. A ban on all factory-ship based fishing in Australian pelagic fisheries.
26. Sustainable employment transition programs to assist commercial fishers and people employed in associated industries affected by changes in marine management practices.
27. Recognition of the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as traditional custodians and protectors of marine resources, their sea country rights and their rights to cultural fishing and an increase in their involvement in marine areas planning, management and decision making.

Mining and Mineral Exploration, Including Coal Seam Gas

The Australian Greens want:

28. A robust economy built on diverse sectors and not reliant on any one sector for its prosperity.
29. A mining and mineral exploration sector that meets stringent environmental protection standards and delivers both long and short term benefits to the wider Australian community.
30. A requirement that all mining activity be consistent with the rights, desires and needs of affected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
31. Legislation that recognises that mining is incompatible with all other land uses and therefore needs to be rigorously assessed before being approved.
32. Accurate and independent environmental, health and social impact assessments addressing the true environmental, social and economic costs and benefits, rigorously applied and implemented on all mining proposals and projects.
33. Rigorous independent ongoing monitoring and compliance with undertakings and legal obligations of all mining projects including during the rehabilitation phase.
34. Prohibition of mineral exploration and mining including the extraction of petroleum and gas, in residential areas, good quality agricultural land and terrestrial and marine nature conservation reserves, national parks, wilderness areas and other areas of high nature conservation value.
35. No new coal seam, shale or tight gas developments, given the short and long term risks to our water, land, communities, the climate, food production and marine areas.
36. Ongoing independent research and monitoring of existing coal seam gas, shale and tight gas projects, especially those which involve fracking, to ensure they are not causing significant damage to aquifers, and withdrawal of approval of those projects if damage is occurring.
37. To strengthen rights for landholders regarding access, negotiation, appeal and compensation rights in all their dealings with mining and resources companies.
38. Inclusion in all new mining proposals of a fully costed and funded allocation for the restoration and rehabilitation of the impacted areas to world’s best practice standards.
39. Prohibition on the exploration for, and mining and export of, uranium.
40. To oppose the establishment of new coal mines and the expansion of existing mines.